OUT OF GAS

Book 1 of the Out of Gas Series

By

Randy Dyess

Out of Gas

Copyright: Randy Dyess

Published: 10th October 2012

Publisher: Randy Dyess

The right of Randy Dyess to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my loving wife, Judy. Without her support none of this would be possible. She has spent countless hours without my company as I hide myself in my office working on this book and all my other projects. She has also had to do something no person should have to do, put up with my rants and raves about the economy, our government, and our media while I researched this book.

Thank you for all your support.

My Thanks

I also want to thank Judy and my mother for their tireless hours reading and editing the mess I called a rough draft. Without their help, this book would not be readable by anyone except for a few monkeys out there.

Thank you so much.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 18

CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 20

CHAPTER 21

CHAPTER 22

OTHER WORKS BY RANDY DYESS

Prologue

Mark and Kelly Turner were what many people would call “Average Americans”. Their childhoods were not spent living in large cities or playing at the country club on the weekends. They were spent living with middle-class parents in small towns just outside of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Towns close enough to Dallas-Fort Worth to have the advantages of bigger cities for shopping and entertainment, but far enough away everyone still behaved like they lived in the country. It was not unusual for the older residents of the towns Mark or Kelly grew up in to have large backyard garden or chickens running around loose. There were even some empty lots at the edge of the towns that would hold a cow or two during the warmer parts of the year. In Mark’s hometown, old man Jones even kept an apiary of bees that would buzz around for miles during the spring and summer flower season.

While there were social groups in the schools Mark and Kelly attended, these groups didn’t ride around in $50,000 cars or spend their summers at the beach or in Europe. Students in Mark’s high school drove around in pickups and spent their time practicing for one sports team or another. Their evenings were spent working on their parent’s farms or in the family businesses. Kelly’s high school was not much different. Agricultural classes were the most popular classes in the school and Kelly spent more than one school year raising rabbits behind her house to show in the livestock show. Mark had similar experiences and raised a sheep in the backyard of his parent’s house one year before discovering computers and dropping Ag for computer programming.

Kelly really did not like raising animals for Ag class nor did she dream of the day she would get married and have children like the majority of her classmates. Kelly was the “brain” of her little school and spent her time studying and worrying about how to get into the best college she could afford. Her dream was to escape the boring existence teenagers endured when growing up in small towns across America. Like many of those small town kids, Mark and Kelly left their hometowns immediately after graduation for the excitement of going to college in a large city. Mark and Kelly happened to choose the same college in Denton and started dating soon after they discovered they both spent their summers at their grandparent’s farms in Madill, Oklahoma. They realized it was possible they saw each other at the town pool each summer when visiting their grandparents. As it turned out, Mark and Kelly had lived no more than 30 miles apart their entire lives. They never knew this until ending up together at North Texas University.

Surprising everyone they knew, Mark and Kelly married right after graduation from college. Mark changed his dream of working in San Francisco and Kelly changed her dream of a glamorous lifestyle in Manhattan for one with a family in the Dallas area. They told everyone they would turn out more successful in the smaller Dallas area than the bigger cities of San Francisco and New York. Deep down they were both like many people in the South. They did not want to move too far from their parents and change lives they were comfortable with. As it turned out, both sets of parents ended up moving within a few blocks of Mark and Kelly after their children were born. They did this to help take care of the children while Mark and Kelly pursued their careers.

While in college, Mark majored in Computer Science. After graduation, he found it was easy to find a job due to the rapid growth of computers in American corporations during the last part of the 20th century. Unlike most of his classmates, Mark did not take a job consulting or at one of the up and coming dot-com companies that were making a splash around the world at the time. He went straight into the database group of a large airline company located near the DFW airport. He would later lament this career choice cost him from getting rich. Many of his classmates received stock options and climbed the corporate ladder at those small firms. However; in the long-run, his choice turned out to be right one because of the dot-com crash in the early 2000’s. Everything came crashing down around the ears of many of his computer science friends who thought it was cool to be a CIO at a small dot-com company.  Mark was happy moving up the ladder at Plains Airlines and enjoying the secure salary which came with the large company.

Kelly took a different career path. She landed a job in the Human Resource department of a large restaurant company that owned multiple restaurant chains all over the country. With her friendly personality, optimistic outlook on things, and her high IQ, Kelly rapidly advanced up the ladder at Texas Restaurants. Kelly advanced faster than Mark did and within ten years of joining the firm found herself as Vice President of Human Resources. She was responsible for managing over 15,000 employees in the 1,500 individual restaurants found in the six chains which made up Texas Restaurants.

Mark and Kelly took the first ten years of their new careers to move up the corporate ladder despite the fact both sets of parents wanted grandchildren right away. Kelly was under additional pressure from her parents as they did not think Kelly should put off having children for a corporate career. Southern tradition believed women were supposed to get married and have kids right away. Their jobs where meant to help supplement the family income and not be careers that came before family. Kelly didn’t agree with this tradition and wanted to have everything. She wanted a career, kids, marriage, and luxury vacations each summer. When the Turner’s decided the time was right; they eventually became the parents of two beautiful little girls: Cheyenne and Dakota. Kelly was in a position of authority at work which allowed her to take a couple of months off after each baby’s birth without losing steam at Texas Restaurants. Sadly, most other new mothers at Texas Restaurants did not get to enjoy this benefit when they decided to have children. Kelly often wondered why they left their jobs after finding out they were going to have a baby.

Mark rose up the ladder as well, although not quite as fast or far as Kelly. Plains Airlines was a much larger company and it did not promote from within as Texas Restaurants. CIOs came and went and each one tended to bring in his own set of cronies to work with him. Mark did rise as far up as Director of Operations in Plains’ IT department. He oversaw a staff of over one hundred database administrators, server administrators, and software developers.  As he grew older, his goal of becoming CIO at Plains Airlines faded as he seemed to be stuck at his current job level. His inability to crack the executive level at Plains Airlines always bothered him. But given his knowledge of the systems at Plains, he did find himself getting a large yearly raises and bonuses to make up for his lack of title advancement. Mark had to settle for the fact that at $180,000 a year, he was making as much money as many of the executives. Even without the title and other benefits given to executives of most American companies, Mark felt he was doing well in his career.

Mark’s income, combined with Kelly’s nearly $150,000 yearly salary, meant the Turners could afford a lifestyle many people only dreamed about. They did the regular things people with their income level did. Kids were enrolled in about every activity they wanted. The family went to professional sporting events on weekends after Mark finished his golf game and Kelly came back from her spa and shopping trips. They promptly spent each and every paycheck and bonuses on vacations, clothes at the mall, and new cars they leased every few years. They were unlike most Americans in the fact they maxed out their 401ks each year and bought large amounts of stocks through their companies stock purchase plans. Mark even set aside money to invest in other stocks recommended by members of their country club. The Turners had a dream life. But it was a dream life that was about to be shattered by the cold, hard truth of the global economy. The global economy did not care about the American dream. It did not care how much Mark and Kelly enjoyed their six thousand square foot, golf course home. It did not care about their golf outings, spa treatments, and luxury vacations. The global economy was on a course to destroy everything in the next few years.

While they lived a “dream life”, this life did not come without a price Mark and Kelly would not realize until many years later. That price, due to the pressures of their jobs, caused Kelly and Mark to miss many events which took place in their children’s lives. They did pride themselves on a promise they had made to each other that at least one of them would be there for each event as often as possible. Neither Kelly nor Mark would miss major events such as birthdays or awards. They believed coming to these major events and lavishing their children with toys and fun activities would make up for the long hours spent at work. After all, they did take them on vacations and spent most holidays with them. What they didn’t realize until much later was their children were being raised by their grandparents. As parents, Mark and Kelly were so detached from their children, the actual time they spent with the girls meant nothing to the girls or to Mark and Kelly.

Chapter 1

When Mark arrived at work at seven the next morning, he found a meeting invite for 7:30 in his inbox.  The CIO wanted him to attend a meeting with Mark’s direct supervisor, Owen. It did not matter what Mark had planned during day, when the CIO said jump, you jumped. Mark cleared out all of his other scheduled meetings for the day and said to himself, “I wonder what this is about.” He hurried to get a large cup of coffee for what he thought was going to be a long day.

“Hi, Mark,” Damian said as Mark entered the executive conference room. Damian Justice was the CIO of Plains Airlines and while he only came aboard a few years ago. Mark liked him more than the other CIOs in Plains’ revolving door of C-Level executes and trusted what he said. He felt like Damian was honest with everyone and he had his staff’s best interest at heart when he made decisions on Plains’ computer systems and infrastructure.

“Morning, Damian. Morning, Owen. What’s up? ” Mark asked as he took a seat next to his immediate boss, Owen, who was Vice President of Applications.

“I asked you and Owen here to discuss the possibility of off-shoring the IT department.”

“Which sections?”

“All of it. Every last nut and bolt,” replied Damian as Mark looked at Owen for confirmation. Owen just nodded his head which caused Mark to let out a low whistle.  He prepared for the day long battle about to take place to convince the latest round of executives that off-shoring everything was a bad idea. He had been with the company for twenty years and built the current computer infrastructure over those years. His knowledge of the systems and how they interacted with each other was valuable to the company. He was often called into executive l meetings to explain the details of Plains’ computer systems.

The day had gone badly with one long meeting after another on the plan of moving the IT department off-shore. They discussed the effects the move would have on the operating expenses and projected profits for the airline company. Mark was called numerous times to white board to draw out the different systems and how they communicated with each other. Over the course of the day, he drew out the data flows and described how each system would need to be changed if one went offshore before the other. It was an exhausting day for Mark. He needed to pour out twenty years’ worth of knowledge without any preparation and to multiple senior level executives over the course of the day. Owen helped some, but most of his help was for the larger picture budget items, personnel issues, and long-term plans.

“What do you think?” asked Owen as they left the latest meeting “Do you think what they are asking is even possible?”

“A few years before you came aboard, we did this same exercise. We went through the whole audit process. After determining everything which might be moved off-shore, we drew up the project plan and presented the whole thing to the stake holders. The cost and complexity of the move out-weighed the savings at the time and the project was dropped. Hopefully things will go the same this time,” replied Mark.

“I don’t know. They seemed pretty adamant about seeing this through.”

“If they do go through with the move, it will take a lot longer than the twelve months they gave us. We might use some of the work from the last time we went through this, but everything will have to be revisited. I think we are looking at three months to even know what we can do, another 18-24 months to do the work, and then another 6-12 months break everything in. This is not the easier off-shoring and out-sourcing projects we have done in the past with the smaller systems. Moving all our IT systems off-shore is huge and will take careful planning and execution to keep things from falling apart.”

“We have made some changes since the last time after finding out how undocumented the whole mess was. But after all these years of CIOs coming and going and each with his own pet projects our whole IT department is a mess. The department is a huge, complex jumble of redundant work and data being moved everywhere. Software exists without good documentation and even without the source code in place. Outdated software is running on old servers everyone is afraid to touch because they might break and we would not know how to get them back up and running. I think we should consider taking the next three years and cleaning everything up before even considering moving anything offshore,” Mark told Owen.

“I know.” said Owen. “You tried to say the same thing multiple times during the day, but they seemed to dismiss your concerns and wanted to move forward anyway. They seem to think we can clean everything up as we move it off-shore. Who knows, we might be able to use this opportunity to bring everything current. Not even bother moving older systems, just replace them with new stuff. You have told to me several times how you would like to utilize the more expensive software packages by moving the custom stuff and smaller systems into them. Now may be the time to start that process.“

“Good point, but this is different.” replied Mark.” I’m worried about what will happen to the staff if they know we are going offshore with everything.  How many critical people would we lose during the process? Nothing was said today about how to retain them. Usually when this happens, there is a whoosh out the door as everyone starts looking for other jobs. Although with the economy the way it is, some of your guys may have a hard time finding something else. A few of my staff have been here for years and you know how the hiring is in IT. If you are over fifty, you are a dinosaur and need to be put out to pasture, not hired.”

“We should see what we can do for them during this process. How do you think we should proceed?” Owen asked.

“I was thinking the same thing, but I haven’t gotten far enough in my inner planning to come up with an answer. I think we should rely on outside contractors and start retraining everyone here on some other job,” replied Mark. “We can keep some of them during the project and after the move we can transfer them to permanent positions. You know how techies are though, they only want to do want they know and do not just want to come to a job each day. If you don’t give them something to match their creative minds, they will not last long.”

“Well, they may have to get over it in this economy. The days of arrogant ‘I only do this’ techies may be over. They may have to just suck it up and do it in order to keep a job.”

“You know some of them won’t do that. I can name ten or twelve of the guys in my area alone that will not make the change. They are either too old to learn something new or too arrogant to think we should ask them to do something other than cutting edge programming.”

“Let’s cancel everything on our calendars and get together over the next few days to start hashing out a high level plan on moving the systems and retraining current staff. I’m also going to review the current open job postings we have out and see if we can cut new projects and staff to lower our overall costs. See if there is anything I can do to delay the move some and give us more time to train the others in something else.”

“Hard to think about having to spend the next 24-30 months basically working myself out of a job,” Mark said. “I’ve spent a lot of years at this place and I enjoy being the head of operations.“

“You shouldn’t worry about not having a job. Your knowledge around here is essential to smooth operations. No one else knows a fraction of what you do when it comes to our systems and how data is spread around. They would be crazy to get rid of you. Although I think you may have to change positions like everyone else,” Owen said as he looked at Mark. “I wonder if we should make you the lead systems architect, some job which uses your knowledge and keeps you at a high enough level to justify your current salary. It shouldn’t be that hard to convince Damian to create the position for you.”

“Thanks, I would appreciate that. What about you? Do you think you would stick around after this is all over?”

“Probably, I’m too young to retire yet and too old to jump around to other jobs. As you said earlier the IT field seems to have a big bias when it comes to anyone over fifty. They just do not want us around as someone younger knows the latest and greatest even though they do not have the experience to implement anything correctly. I will probably find myself on a plane all the time jumping back and forth between here and wherever we out-source to. At least the airline lets VPs book business class if the trip is over six hours in length. Just about anywhere we would out-source to would be longer than six hours.”

“Always a bright side to things if you look for it,” Mark said.

Both men thought of the nightmare the next thirty months would be on the morale of their coworkers. As they entered Owen’s office, Mark shut the door and asked him, “Do you know why they are thinking of making this move? I thought we put this to rest a few years ago when we showed them it did not really help with costs.”

“I’m not supposed to say anything, but you know last week when they cancelled a few hundred flights and blamed the cancellations on a computer bug?” said Owen. He went on, “The reason we never figured out what they were talking about was because a fuel shortage turned out to be the reason for the cancellations. Our supplier did not have enough fuel to give us and we had to cancel flights to overcome the shortage. I think everyone is worried a global fuel shortage is building and our fuel costs are about to blow through the roof. They will probably raise ticket prices, but you can only do that so much before high ticket cripples revenues. They haven’t told me everything. I think they are trying to do anything they can do in order to bring down other costs so they can continue to make a profit. Hard to touch the unions, but since the back-office employees are not unions, we are fair game.”

“Why didn’t they say that?” Mark wondered.

“Think about it. If you say we have a computer bug, everyone has experienced the results of a bug before. They don’t really think much about it, as a computer bug is just a part of living with computers. The only real fallout from saying the problem was a computer bug is the stockholders would think the IT staff are idiots and we can’t program our systems correctly. If you say, ‘Hey, the world is short of fuel because of the Middle-East situation or a global fuel shortage’, then everyone panics and the stock prices plummet. Remember, it is all about the stock price to most of those guys in the corner offices.”

“I guess so, but it does worry me we have actually experienced a fuel shortage and everyone thinks the problem is going to keep recurring. I have already been through one bankruptcy with this airline and with what it did to my stocks; I really do not want to think about going through another.”

“I know, worries me as well,” said Owen. “I only have about ten more years before I can cash out of everything and retire. The stock options I received when I came over here with Damian put the icing on the cake.  They gave me hope my retirement will be more than eating a TV dinner and yelling at the latest news on TV. I am looking forward to dumping all of this mess on someone else’s lap.”

“OK,” Mark said as he walked out the door. He continued thinking as he walked to his office, “Fuel shortage. I wonder if this has happened before or if this just something which has happened only once.  But if it is a one-time problem, why try to blame the problem on something else? This cover-up sounds to me like they knew a problem was coming and had everything worked out beforehand.  There has to be something more going on if they want to disrupt the company enough to move the entire IT department off-shore.”

Mark thought about the problem a little more, but since today was Mark’s turn to be home at a decent hour he left the office earlier than normal. Mark and Kelly took turns being home before 6PM a few nights a week. They wanted to act like normal parents who had to corral the kids from their various events and make sure they were fed.  Mark took one night a week, Kelly took another. One night Kelly’s parents came over and one night Mark’s parents came over. The grandparents also took turns watching the girls after school.  On Friday nights, both Mark and Kelly came home as early as possible to spend a small amount of time with the kids. Even then, Mark and Kelly would often not get home from work before 6PM on Friday nights. Both of them thought this was early since the other nights they usually got home with just enough time to see the kids before they went to sleep. Being between the ages of five and seven, Dakota and Cheyenne usually went to bed around 8PM each night.  Most night this was too early for Mark and Kelly to get home. Getting home so late meant that the majority of the girls’ activities before, during, and after school fell upon the grandparents to handle. In fact, during summer the kids spent more time with their grandparents than they did at home. Since they did not have to get up and go to school each day, it was often easier for them to sleep over at their grandparent’s house.

By the time Mark got home, he had decided not to say anything to Kelly about the fuel issue. A one-time lie by the company was not enough to forecast a trend.  He was still undecided if this was an actual problem or just a normal part of doing business. He didn’t want to create panic if this was equal to the local gas station not getting their gas on time. He also decided that he would not say anything about the off-shore mandate. He had gone through this before, a mandate to consider off-shoring everything followed by months of hard work and morale problems with the fear that everyone would lose their jobs. In the end, a few pieces of the operation would go overseas. Very few people would lose their jobs, although they would be reassigned to different areas of the company. The staff would get their old jobs back once the off-shore company failed to keep its promises and the work came back in-house. In the end, most of the off-shore cheerleaders would give up and cancel their off-shore contracts and bring the whole thing back home.  The company would save almost no money as the work overseas often had to be redone locally before it could be used by the existing systems.

What Mark decided on his way home was to do some research to understand more about the fuel situation. He wanted to know if there was a global fuel shortage, then why he didn’t hear anything about the shortage on the news he watched throughout the day.  Was there a global fuel shortage large enough to start affecting the flight schedule? Was the ongoing recession part of the fuel shortage? What were they not telling us, why were they not telling and did he need to be worried about his family’s financial future? Like many Americans he grew up watching the major news stations after work each day and had always been told that American news was the best in the world.  You could believe everything that was reported and if it wasn’t reported by the major services then it wasn’t worth reporting. The fact that his favorite news anchor was completely honest had been drummed in his head more times than once. He always thought the news services spent millions of dollars investigating reports around the world to keep everyone up to date on all major events. It seemed hey were missing a major piece of news if one of the world’s largest airlines was cancelling flights and lying about the actual reason. Mark selflessly hoped he would find nothing was going on. He did want either a SEC investigation or a bankruptcy causing his stocks to get hammered.  He didn’t want to stop his dream of retiring as soon as the first grandkid was born. He was more worried about his dream ending than the affects a global fuel shortage would have on people around the word.

Mark fed the girls pizza and watched as both girls went off to various corners of the house to do whatever normal kids did after dinner. Mark knew they were like most kids and spent their evenings watching TV or playing computer games.  Mark cleaned up the pizza mess and then went to his home office to do his own homework. He wanted to figure out what, if anything was going on.

What he found in his initial cursory search made things worse. Mark compared the various major news sites and soon found out those news sites slanted the headlines to fit into a particular set of beliefs they held. The same news story would be told by many different news sites. Each site had their own set of beliefs and would usually write the news to lead you to believe what they wanted to say. The same piece of new could either state the end of the world was near or the piece of news was the best thing that ever happened. He could not find one major news organization which reported the news in an unbiased way so the reader could make up their own mind about the issue.  Mark discovered most of the “news” he was taught to watch and believe was written to fit into the beliefs of one political parties or another. It did not take much digging to find the actual reports or stories the article was based on.  Mark read a few of the underlying reports and could tell many sites made up their own conclusions or heavily edited their reports to make them say what they wanted them to say. If the reader took the time to go through the whole original data and then compare them to what the major news site had written; they would notice the news media often reported opposite of what the underlying report said.

“Well, dad,” Mark thought. “It looks like you were probably the last generation to have real, unbiased news reports. My generation is being fed news and headlines that fit agendas and sponsorships more than it does to serve the public’s best interest.” After getting disgusted with the major American news sites, Mark turned to international news sources to see if they were any better. He found a handful of foreign news sites which actually reported major news of the world. They did not just report the latest Hollywood gossip or some piece of half-truth which served a corporate sponsor or the political party the chairmen of the board sided with. He put these sites into his favorites so he could return to them each day to see what he was missing from the American sites. Mark tried a handful of respected financial news sites in order to get a handle on the economy and how a major fuel shortage would affect the global economies. What he found was similar to the standard news sites. The problem was he did not have enough financial knowledge to decide which stories were unbiased reports and which stories had been sensationalized to get viewers. He decided he needed to increase his knowledge of financial jargon. He needed the knowledge to decide if the reporters were making valid points or just trying to get more air time to justify their salaries or sell their latest book.

Hoping to find somewhere that explained things in way he could understand, he turned to the alternative web sites. What he found there was a mass of web sites discussing everything from the Earth striking back at humans to super-secret groups who are plotting to control the world. He came across terms, agendas, and groups most Americans would have never heard of: Peak Oil, U.N. Agenda 21, the Bilderberg group, and Skull and Bones. He even learned about the Rothschild’s plan to permanently keep the world at war to make billions off of war supplies and then make billions off of the reconstruction efforts. Many of the sites he found he discounted as being controlled by “crazy” people. He did review a few of the sites in detail and bookmarked them to come back to at a later time during his research.

Mark kept looking at various sites until he heard Kelly come home around 8pm and he called it quits for the night. He told himself he would start following up on the information he found by learning more about global economics. He would also learn more about the people who represented the public at all levels of the political systems. He also told himself that tomorrow at work he would see if he could figure out the fuel shortage problem and see if it had happened before. Had Plains either lied about the actual problem or covered the problem up in some other manner? He did not want to believe the worse about Plains, but he had a really bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Was the company where he had spent his entire working adult life not the same one he had started with?

But for now he would turn off the laptop and go join Kelly for their traditional glass of wine before bedtime.

Chapter 2

The next day at work Mark closed his office door and logged into the financial system. He poked around a bit before he found what he needed; the fuel invoices for the past few years. Everything looked like it should have up until about eighteen months ago when the invoices started showing a slight reduction in amount due.  Looking into the details of the invoices, he determined the amount of fuel being delivered would be less than the amount delivered before the time frame he reviewed. Less fuel being delivered each month was not a case for a global fuel shortage. It was not until he saw that in the last eighteen months, the amount of fuel being delivered fell short of the amount ordered by increasing percentages that Mark worried.  Mark kept digging around and found that although they found new sources of fuel, the new sources would not always fill in the gaps. The amount of fuel shortage between what had been delivered and the amount the airline needed to operate widened each month. There were at least eleven occasions in the past eighteen months the extra suppliers were unable to supply the fuel needed by the airline to work at normal levels.

After noting the months that showed a fuel shortage, Mark started reviewing news services to see if he could figure out how they covered up the fuel shortage. In six of the eleven months, Plains had been able to cancel flights and blame weather for the reason. It made sense as the months covered winter and the spring time storm season. Mark wondered if weather had anything to do with the cancellations or if Plains just made up the weather excuses to keep the fuel shortage situation hidden. Three months out of the eighteen had a mechanical recall of a part of their fleet. This kept a percentage of their fleet grounded while being checked over by the mechanics. A short pilots’ strike grounded at least a third of their fleet six months ago. These three events accounted for the eleven months Mark had found in his research.  Except for this month, Plains had a set of naturally occurring and manmade reasons for the cancellations. Whether the weather disruptions or the mechanical groundlings were actual events or Plains’ management fabricated them as cover, Mark couldn’t tell through the financial systems or the news. He would have to break in and read archived emails from the executives and he was not willing to do this at this stage in the game. What bothered Mark the most from his invoice research was the fuel shortage had gotten larger and more and more planes had to be grounded each month. He wondered how they would continue to be able to create false events to explain an ever-increasing amount of flights being cancelled each month.

That night Mark found a book he needed to start learning the basics of financial indicators and what they meant to the stock market. It was a basic book but it did a good enough job of explaining the major indicators the economic world seemed to care about.  While it would not be enough information for Mark to “play” the stock market. The book would give Mark enough knowledge to see if what he was reading on the web sites and hearing in the news was accurate. Mark learned what the critical economic indicators were and why they were so important to the financial community.  Over the next few weeks, he studied the book and compared what it said about the major economic indicators against the news reports. He reviewed other indicators the news channels discussed. He started realizing even though a particular indicator may have been discussed on the news many financial people would ignore it for one reason or another. Some of the explanations given by the books’ authors and the news reporters for why they didn’t discuss one indicator or another he didn’t accept for his situation. The reasons given did not fit Mark’s specific need for indicators to give a good picture of the overall health of the economy. He did not need just a snapshot of the economy that stock investors wanted. Wall Street often discounted many indicators because they would be based on data everyone considered old. Anything more than last month’s data would be considered old news by the street. Several good indicators were shunted aside even though the trending of those indicators would help the public understand the global economy and what may happen soon.

Mark also accepted the fact that because Wall Street liked or disliked something did not mean it was good or bad in the long run for the global economy. Wall Street seemed to him to be all about the moment and the next quarterly report. They did not seem to care much about the overall financial health of the world and its long-term survivability. Mark also learned during his research that while the news used the DOW as the prime indicator of the stock market, it was not the prime indicator of the economy. The DOW did often follow the overall leanings of the stock market. He learned it was possible for the economy to be doing well while the DOW would fall or the overall economy would suffer, but the DOW went up. While the DOW was made up of a cross section of companies, those companies did not always show the true health of the global economy. Wall Street tended to ignore the small businesses of America, which employed more people than the large corporations did. The health of those companies was not part of the fluctuations of the DOW.  To Mark, investors reacted too quickly to the current headline news and did not do the research needed to figure out the overall consequences of the current headlines. Too many people now had access to the real-time information of a company and often did a “knee-jerk” reaction to something splashed over the headlines. The way the stock market reacted today did not show the patterns of yesterday

There were also issues brought on by high-speed trading kicking in and buying or selling based on information normal humans did not have time to digest. Because of their massive amounts of buying power, they would move the market one way or another before average investors had a chance to react to those trends. Mark’s research led him to determine he needed to stop watching the financial news and checking on his stocks each day. What he needed to do was to learn how to do his own research and get the longer term picture and not react to the “splash” of the day. He realized this was similar to what he did with the capacity and performance of his servers. Watch them over long time and then trend them to help determine when the servers would be over-utilized or under-performing based on long-term numbers. Like he would do with information obtained from his servers, he put the economic numbers he wanted to study into a spreadsheet. This allowed him to analyze them over the longer term. Finding past numbers was easy, he was able to input more than the last few months of data to get a more accurate picture of the trends.

At the same time he was studying economic indicators, Mark spent some time working his way through what he called the “doom and gloom” crowd. This group of web sites discussed various conspiracy theories; the web site editor’s hatred of the current president and government, and the various end-of-the world scenarios these editors believed in. While Mark didn’t believe in the majority of what was on these web sites, he was able to gleam a few things off of them that concerned him. He had no clue at this point in time if he would need to react to these various theories, but he did not want to discount them just yet. Overall, these groups provided him with background material more than anything else. They would react to a headline from the major news sources and often provided a link to base materials used by the authors or the news reports. This allowed Mark to read or listen to the underlying paper, poll, interview or speech. He wanted to see if the main news sites were telling the whole truth. Too often he found they were trying to make a splash by just reporting on a few sentences and taking those sentences out of content. Something Mark found disturbing was that it happened so often and no “real” news source tended to do any independent research before they jumped on the bandwagon.  He often found dozens of articles rewriting one single article. If the reader back-tracked the articles, they would have seen dozens of reporters repeating what one or two people actually thought.

After learning how to do his own research, Mark learned the global economy was not doing as well as the news media portrayed it to be doing. Factory output was down over the last several months and fuel prices were rising even though consumption had fallen due to the ongoing recession. Unemployment, and more importantly to Mark, underemployment and discouraged workers were growing in numbers. He had learned of two different figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and compared those to get the real story of the employment picture. The first was the main unemployment rate or U-3 number reported by the media. This figure was the number of workers in America who had looked for a job during the last four weeks before the phone call survey. What he considered more important was the U-6 number. This number, in his opinion, gave a better understanding of the employment situation.  It was not just the number of unemployed who had looked for jobs in the last four weeks. The U6 number also included those who had given up looking for work or settled for part-time employment when they wanted full-time. This number was usually a much higher percentage of the total workforce and it might rise even though the official unemployment rate stayed the same or even fell.

Eventually, Mark put two and two together and turned his research to the overall fuel shortage and what affects it would have on prices. What he found chilled him to the bone. He knew the fuel shortages would be behind the sudden increase in prices of the gas, but may have been reason for price increases of other items. While the government kept saying there was no real inflation to be worried about, Mark started doing his own little version of the Consumer Price Index. He found out there was a 10-15% inflation rate on most of the items he and Kelly bought each month. These rises included the prices at the golf course to the price of the meals at their favorite restaurants.

At the same time Mark was learning about the direction the global economy was heading, he understanding how easy it would be to out-source the entire IT department. Mark understood not only was Plains able to out-source his whole department without disrupting operations the move would not be as hard as he thought. Over the last several years virtual technology had made big strides forward and these advances would make moving all of his servers somewhat simple and easy. What he determined they needed to do was to virtualize all their servers.  Once they finished the virtualization, Mark would have his staff move the virtual images over to new hosts in the data centers of the outsourcing company.  Moving the servers in this way would recreate their entire computer infrastructure in another country without having to redo anything to the connections between the end-users and servers. All server names would stay the same. Software would be the same and on the same servers. Connections to databases would remain the same. Even the administration tasks would stay the same as what they would have been with actual physical servers. By virtualizing both the database servers and the application servers, the whole division would be shipped off somewhere else with very little problems. The only thing missing after the move would be the institutional knowledge of key players to put the Plains Airlines spin on things.

The hardest item on the rough draft of his outsourcing plan would be to figure out how he would keep himself critical to the company after they completed the move. He was also a little worried about retaining any of his staff after this was all over. The company’s business analysts could easily transfer IT’s way of doing things into requirements for out-sourced administrators and developers. Mark also started to feel a little guilty about not telling any of the other employees about the upcoming move and the probable loss of their jobs. He swore that if he everyone would be let go and the economy was as bad as he suspected it was, he would tell as many of them as possible. He wanted them to start finding other jobs. He just needed to figure out how he could do that without jeopardizing his own job. Mark also did not want to hurt his bonus if the project failed and his staff all seemed to figure it out and left the company before anyone else did. He correctly assumed he would need as much money as possible to secure his family’s immediate future.

Due to his research into the fuel shortage situation, Mark started to wonder if his future with Plains Airlines was as secure as he once thought it was.  Even if he was able to get a different job at Plains, he wondered if Plains would even be around in three years. Would the airline be able to operate or would it have to shrink and become very lean to survive the fuel wars that were coming up? Would Americans and the rest of the world even be able to afford to fly if the price of everything kept its staggering rate of price increases? As he progressed further into his research, Mark felt like he needed to talk to someone. If he brought this up to Owen or any executive, they might think he was trying to sabotage the IT move or he just wasn’t willing to “play ball”. He was convinced the executives already knew most of this and were hiding it from the rest of the world so the stock price would not plummet. Most of the executives’ salaries came from stock options and there might not be anything some of them wouldn’t try to protect their own financial situation. Mark did not want to become a corporate whistleblower. Those people were hounded by the media, treated like criminals by companies, and almost ignored by the government. Mark was not financially secure enough to end his working career on something like this fuel cover-up situation. He also knew he could not bring this up to Kelly just yet. While they were close, Mark had often gone off on his little tangents about one adventure or another. Kelly, being the smarter and more logical of the two, would have to rein him in and remind him of his responsibilities to her and the girls. She would just look at him and tell him he was not a care-free college student anymore. While it may be fine for a twenty something to take a summer off and backpack around Europe it was not fine for someone with kids and a mortgage. No, he would have to prepare his speech to Kelly before he would be able to convince her things were about to fall apart. He needed her to realize they had better do something before they found themselves circling the drain like the rest of the world.

Mark also knew he couldn’t talk to any of his staff. He did not want word of the possible move to get around before they were ready to announce it.  As with most employees in today’s world, many of his staff would just give up doing any of the harder work. They would only do whatever work was required of them and nothing more until they were let go after the project was completed. The only reason these employees would do anything was the hope they would either be transferred or given huge severance packages for sticking around until the move was completed. Other staff members would start using up all their remaining vacation days looking for different jobs and then leave before Mark was finished transferring their work assignments overseas. Those without vacation time or who did not want to use their vacation time looking for another job would start calling in sick more often. In the past these employees would either come into work no matter how they felt or they would work from home instead of coming in sick. These actions would have the combined effect of delaying the movement of job functions overseas and Mark would have to work additional hours to make up for the delays.

Mark was thinking about his problem when one of his DBAs came in the door. “What’s up Ted?”

“Did you see the headlines this afternoon? They are canceling another thousand flights and blaming it on the system. We can’t seem to find any server that shows a problem.”

“No, I have had my head down and didn’t see anything. Let me look into it and try to figure out what is going on. Keep trying to find out if anything weird is showing. See if we can nip it in the bud before it grows,” answered Mark.

“Funny how this always seems to be at the end of the month.  I wonder if the timing has something to do with the cancellations or bug.”

“Might be.  Start seeing if you can figure out if anything going on at the end of the month would cause this,” Mark replied.  He secretly hoped someone would make the connection between canceled flights and the fuel situation. He doubted it they would figure it out. His staff would not know about the fuel delivery issues and the global fuel supply unless they were doing the same research he had been doing the past month. Mark had to “break” into the financial systems to put the picture together. He had all the security permissions he needed to view the data, but as the old security saying goes, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” Not many of his staff had the same level of privileges he did or the same ability to hide their actions from others like Mark could. Not that anyone would question him if they saw him in any of Plains’ computer systems. No one knew everything he did on a day-to-day basis.

At the point the computer system was being blamed for another round of flight cancellations, Mark knew the company was going to blame IT for all the cancellations. He drew the conclusion that after blaming the current system on the cancellations, the brass would hold a press conference. They would tell everyone they were not happy with their current IT systems and would start moving all the IT systems to a “specialized” company. The press conference would help delay anyone nosing around for the real truth and give the company more chances to hide the fuel issues for a little while longer. They would do this by using the move to justify more cancellations as bugs happen. After that they would use the new firm as an excuse for a few more months. They would say things would take time to settle in and the new company needed time to learn the systems. All-in-all they could buy another 24-30 months before having to come up with another set of excuses if the fuel situation did not get better. They might even try announcing they would bring things back in house after the cancellations continue to occur at the new company. Mark was cynical enough to think the executives were waiting for the stock price increase after the company announced layoffs before they would cash in their stock options.

As he drove home that night, a thought came to his head. “They’re not going to get away with this are they? Someone will put two and two together and expose the fuel shortage. The company will be under a SEC investigation before we know it. The stock price will plummet to nothing as the company files bankruptcy to try to figure out how to operate with less fuel and lower budgets.” Mark had been through a bankruptcy with Plains before. The stocks he had from his 401k matching, employee stock purchase plan and what he bought on his own became almost worthless overnight. After more than ten years the stock was still only worth about 40% of what it was when he bought it.  Mark figured he had lost more than $300,000 in his retirement fund and outside stock accounts from the bankruptcy alone. Although he had diversified over the years, he was still heavily invested in his own company and wondered what another bankruptcy would do to his retirement funds. Along with the losses from the recession, he wondered if he would even be able to retire when he wanted to.

Later that night, Mark was with Kelly for their traditional drink when it occurred to him he needed to fill her in on what was going on at Plains Airlines. He wasn’t ready to tell her tonight, but he did need to gather his thoughts and tell her when they had more time together. Maybe he could tell her more on Sunday when the kids went to their grandparent’s house for the afternoon. Saturday was his weekly golf game with the boys at the club and Kelly spend Saturdays at the spa with her friends. He didn’t want to spoil the good mood both of them would be in after their weekly indulgences.  He would have to wait until Sunday to fill her in on his research and suspicions.

Chapter 3

Mark arrived at his usual time at the club on Saturday morning for his weekly golf game with some of his college buddies. As he walked through the club, everyone was already having a drink in the bar.

“A little early, isn’t it? We usually have drinks after we play and not before. Not that I’m complaining,” Mark joked before he noticed everyone seemed to be down in the dumps.

“We felt like it was a good time to have a drink,” Bill responded.

“What’s up and where’s John?” Mark asked.

“You’ve haven’t heard?” replied Bill.

“Heard what?”

“John committed suicide yesterday. Susan found him sitting in his car in the garage with the motor running. The exhaust fumes were so bad she almost fainted after rushing in to check on him.”

“What? Why?” Mark whispered as he sat down.

John was one of Mark’s oldest college buddies. They had roomed together at North Texas and shared a lot of good memories over the years. Even though they both studied computer science, John decided to go to law school after graduation while Mark went into corporate America working at Plains Airlines’ computer division. Over the years, even though they had different lives, John and Mark still kept in touch as much as possible outside of their weekly golf game. In fact, John’s lifestyle was Mark and Kelly’s private dream. Mark and Kelly used John as the measuring stick on how they were doing in life. They wanted to match what John and Susan did and often spent money beyond their means to try to emulate them. It did not matter that John’s income was larger than Mark and Kelly’s combined income. If John and Susan did it and there was any way Mark and Kelly could afford it, they did it. John and Susan had a condo in Colorado for skiing, a beach house on an island in the Bahamas, and a hunting cabin in Wyoming.  John loved classic cars and had a garage full of them. Some of this was out of reach for Mark and Kelly, but they did go on the same first-class vacations all over the world with John and Susan. Mark and Kelly really did not need one, but since John and Susan had a full-time maid and gardener, Kelly and Mark had a maid and gardener. John had money and was not afraid to show he had money. He set the bar high for the rest of his college buddies to try to reach. Mark and Kelly were willing to work insane hours and go into large amounts of debt in order to try to reach that bar. It did not matter both of them were in their early forties and probably would never have a chance of coming close to John’s lifestyle.

Bill broke Mark from his internal dialogue when he continued by saying John’s life was all smoke and mirrors. John and Susan never really paid for anything. Even though John made large amounts of money, his and Susan’s lifestyle cost more than they actually made and they had large amounts of debt to show for it. Everything they owned had been financed one way or another. He borrowed money against his stocks to finance trips, they financed furniture with no money down, cars where leased, and houses had multiple mortgages on them. Bill even found out John had made several advances against his salary. When he was laid off, he didn’t get any severance package as it went to make up for the advances.

As Bill was talking, Mark thought “So what. Everyone is like that.” It dawned on him he was in the same boat as John. Mark and Kelly really didn’t own anything either. His house had three mortgages on it. The first one at 110% they took out when they bought the house ten years ago. Since then they took out a second and third mortgage against their equity to pay for their lifestyle. Mark’s leased his cars. They constantly maxed out credit cards to purchase the latest and greatest gadget.  At least he didn’t use his stocks to borrow money like John. He realized if Plains hadn’t gone through its bankruptcy years ago, he would have taken a loan against his stocks as well. He always wanted a large boat to use on Lake Texoma during the summers.

It dawned on Mark Bill had said John was laid off from his job. “They lay off lawyers?” Mark asked. “He never said anything.”

Bill answered, “The thing no one knew was that John was laid off a few years ago at the start of the recession. Apparently he was too proud to say anything about the layoff or let anyone know he no longer had a source of income. He never changed his lifestyle, thinking he would get his clients back and get hired back on by the firm. Susan said they spent everything they saved trying to look like nothing was wrong. They burned through their savings, the kids’ college funds, and even their retirement funds. It wasn’t until they ran out of money six months ago and the banks started taking back everything that John realized it was too late to change anything. By that time, they had nothing to sell to even keep their small condo in Colorado. But even during the repossessions and collection harassment calls, John would not accept any job he felt was beneath him. He was too proud to take anything just to keep some money coming in.”

“Couldn’t he find another job at another law firm? He was very experienced and good at his job,” Mark commented.

“That was one of the problems,” Bill said. “Apparently a lot of lawyers lost their jobs and no one wanted to hire experienced lawyers unless they had a client list to justify their large salaries. John lost all his clients when WorldComm, Praxius, and DigiWorld went belly up. He didn’t have any clients and after the large rounds of layoffs in the computer world he lost all the contacts he had built up all those years. None of the replacements or the survivors in those companies knew him and wanted to use him or they already had their own ‘hotshot’ lawyer. He lost his job and his ability to find another job all at the same time. He would have survived with some of his stuff intact if he had cut his salary requirements and taken a job, but who wants to do that. I don’t know if I would. Would you want to throw away years of work and take a lower-level job at a fraction of the pay, even if someone would hire you?”

Another one of Mark’s friends replied, “I see your point. At our age we are too old and too experienced to go back down the ladder to a safer job. Companies won’t hire us because they think as soon as the economy improves, we would be out the door for something better and they are right about that. It would also be a hard to give up the benefits we’ve gotten used to over the years.”

Mark thought to himself, “I wonder if this is going to be a problem at Plains? Will they give me an architect’s role at my current salary when most architects make less? Is my knowledge really that valuable to them?” He kept turning this worry over and over in his mind as everyone else continued talking.

“Susan told me their marriage was just about over. Losing his job and not being able to find another one which would allow him to keep up his current lifestyle took a huge toll on John. She wanted him to start selling off everything more than a year ago, but he wouldn’t listen. She said they argued over everything and he was not the same person the last few years. She didn’t understand why he was being so stubborn. They could have replaced all of the stuff again in a few years when the economy got better and he was able to find a new job. She even tried to get him to ‘dummy’ down his résumé and take a lower paying job somewhere. He just wouldn’t listen and kept saying ‘I’m supposed to take care of my family. I should be man enough to provide you with the best and not make you live in an apartment and drive a used car just because I can’t find something. I’m sure something is just around the corner with the latest feelers I’ve sent out. We’ll be living the high-life again soon, you’ll see. We are not poor people and never will be. We’re better than that.’ His pride basically drove them into the ground and left their marriage a shambles after all those months of rejections and disappointment.”

“He always was a proud man,” Mark said and then added, “like I’m or anyone else at this table is any different. I wouldn’t put it past any of us to do the same things and wind up in the same boat.”

“Yea, but what’s pride have to do with it when someone starts prepossessing everything you own. Susan said it shattered him when the foreclosure letter on their house came and he couldn’t find a way out of the mess. She thinks he snapped and broke inside. In fact, the cops found the letter in his hands when they pulled the body out of the car.”

“All that energy wasted over stuff he could have replaced when things started getting better. What is everyone thinking when you have a great family and you fall apart over losing a few items you could replace when you made it again,” Andrew said. He thought John was just weak. Andrew had gone through several bankruptcies as he built his current company from the ground up. He sold cars, houses, and borrowed against everything he could think of to start TechWeb. He even talked his parents into mortgaging their houses to help him survive the current downturn.  It never occurred to him he would fail and not find another way out. Starting over multiple times was the way things were done in America. You pushed the envelope and if you failed, you simply picked up the pieces and tried again. There was always money out there for those who knew how to get it. Anyone could become rich and those who couldn’t were either stupid or lazy. He thought nothing could stop the American juggernaut and he was willing to bet everything he had and everything his parents had to prove his belief.

The gang silently drank the rest of their drinks wondering if something like what John had gone through would affect them the same way. They all hoped they would never have to find out. One-by-one, they set their glasses down and stood up. They shook hands and went home to their separate lives. The golf game forgotten by everyone as they left. As it turned out for Mark, last week’s golf game would be his last golf game.

Mark was half way home when it occurred to him that during the whole conversation he was more worried about his future than the death of one of his friends. “What am I turning into when a close friend dies and all I care about is me? John and Susan were good friends and I didn’t even ask Bill how Susan was holding up or how the kids were doing. Is this life I’m leading worth this? Am I turning out to be a heartless bastard like the C-Levels guys I always make fun of?” It wasn’t until Mark realized he didn’t think about his family either during the whole conversation at the club. The entire time his own thoughts were on how he would handle something like that. Not how his family would be affected if Mark lost his job or something more serious happened.

Mark had to pull over to a local park since he was too shaken up by his realization he had turned out to be a corporate SOB. More worried about his own self-preservation to even care about one of his best friends or his family during a time like this. He tried to tell himself he was just in shock after learning of John’s death and he wasn’t really that bad. But deep down he knew he really didn’t feel anything for John and Susan. He also knew he was so selfish his family’s needs didn’t even come into the picture when he created his goals and desires. To him, John and Susan were just people he hung out with because they had all the cool toys and a life Mark envied. He had known them for over twenty years and John was one of his best friends. Mark knew he was so self-centered he didn’t really care about them as people. They were a way to enjoy life at a level he couldn’t afford. As he thought about the selfish things he had done over the years, Mark became ashamed of himself. He couldn’t even come up with an answer why his family didn’t even come into the picture during his earlier discussion. He knew it was wrong to treat his wife and kids like they were something he was supposed to have and not like they were something he wanted. As he sat there in the park, he went over all the times he had gotten mad at Kelly or the kids. He realized he didn’t get mad because they did something wrong. He got mad because he thought they prevented him from doing something he wanted to do. Most of those desires were stupid and selfish and would have only given him pleasure for a moment or make him look successful in front of his friends and neighbors. They were not desires to better his or his family’s lives.

Mark sat there and wondered what had gone so wrong in his life. He had gone from this caring kid with a lot of friends in high school and college, to a career-driven bastard. He no longer thought about how things would affect his families’ goals and wellbeing, but only his goals. He wondered if it was too late to change things before he died and no one else really cared.  One of those people who had a funeral and no one but immediate family came. He wondered if Cheyenne and Dakota would even come if they had a choice. He knew then he needed to make big changes in his life. He did not want to be one of those people who gave so much to their job but didn’t get anything back from the job but a salary. Someone who died and would say on their deathbed, “I should have spent more time with my family. The money wasn’t worth it in the long run.”

As he completed his drive home, all Mark could think of was how he would tell Kelly the news. He also had a strong desire to hug his kids as soon as he hit the door. Mark knew he needed to start thinking about how he was going to change his life around so his family became the priority they should always have been.

Chapter 4

Mark walked in the door a half hour later and the first thing he asked Kelly was, “Where are the kids?”

“You know they go over to my mom’s each Saturday until we get home. Why? What’s wrong?”

“I just wanted to give them a big hug.”

“What?” Kelly thought they were not really a hugging family. “Why are you home from the club so early? Did something happen?”

“Kelly, I don’t know how to say this, but John Anderson committed suicide last night. I found out from Bill at the club today. We never got around to playing any golf, just had a quick drink and came home.”

“What? Why? John and Susan always seemed so happy? Was he sick?”

Mark went on to explain the marriage and financial troubles John was having and how he lost everything in the end and just couldn’t take it. After going through the whole story, Kelly said, “I wonder if the same thing could happen to us.”

“You know. That was the one of the first things that came to my mind as well. The whole time Bill was talking about John the only thing going through my mind was, ‘What if I was in his situation?’ I realized on the way home I never asked how Susan and the kids where holding up. I mean John was supposed to be one of my oldest friends and it didn’t bother me he committed suicide and was dead. It bothered me I might be the same way in his situation. The thought about where we would stay when we went skiing this year now and couldn’t use John’s condo actually crossed my mind once. I played golf with the man for over twenty years. We’ve been to their house dozens of times for parties. We’ve spent Holidays with them and gone on vacations together. We were even their when Amber and Jared were born and not once at the club did I even think about anyone but myself. Someone I knew very well killed himself and the only thoughts I had were about how it would affect me and not him and his family.”

Mark looked down with sad eyes and continued, “While I was driving home I realized I have become a selfish person. I mean the whole time we were talking at the club all my thoughts were about me.” He looked Kelly in the eye at this point, “Not about my family, but about me. I didn’t even include you or the kids in my thoughts today and when I thought about it more, I don’t include my family in many of my thoughts. I am so self-centered I do not even think about you or the kids when I want to do something.”

Kelly just let him go on and get it out of his system. The whole time he was talking she was seeing herself saying the same things. She ended up wondering if she was just as horrible as Mark thought he was.

I’m sick of the person I have become. Money.  Money.  Money. Bigger house, fancier cars, stuff we don’t even use cluttering every spare inch of this place. I can’t even feel anything for someone I thought was a good friend. I am such a selfish bastard I only care about my possessions and nothing else? I wonder if I would even feel bad if my parents died or you or the kids died. I might be sad but would it dramatically affect my life over the years or would I go on the way I was. Would I mourn for a few days and then get my golf gear and head out in order to ‘clear my head’? When did I become so cold-hearted a death of someone close to me doesn’t affect me? I used to have good friends in high school and college. I knew everything they did. We laughed, cried, got angry together and now I am just one of those ‘sideline’ friends who is only there because they have been around for so long. I never really extend myself to anyone anymore. I don’t think I have a true friend in the world outside of you. It has been ages since I have seen my brothers and sister and I don’t really know anything about their lives. When was the last time we went to the farm and saw your grandmother? She used to really enjoy us coming around and staying with her. I guess we just got too ‘uppity’ to stay in her little farm house. I’m sure she misses us.”

Mark went on, “I work with over a hundred people and besides knowing their names. I know nothing else about them. I know they’ve told me about their family members, hobbies, and other stuff that is important to them. I just blow it off and wondered when they would stop gabbing and get back to work. Those people only mean one thing to me and that is how well they do their jobs. I could be working with someone who is considered the nicest person in the world and I wouldn’t even know it. I never spend any time with anyone at work. I don’t even go out to eat with them. I always claim I have a meeting and can’t spare the time. I’m so involved in my work I miss the fact that I am a human and all the other humans around me are just as important as I am. I seriously doubt any of them would shed a tear if I died or I would ever hear from them if they left the company or I left the company. In fact, I know I wouldn’t because I have never kept in touch with anyone I have worked with in the past. They are not useful to me with my career at Plains, so I stopped talking to them.”

“I don’t think you are a ‘sideline’ friend,” Kelly interrupted. “We spent a lot of time with John and Susan over the years and all of us had a great time. Besides grandma moved out of that house a long time ago and lives in the senior center in town.”

Mark continued, “Would we have done so if the situations were reversed and we had all the latest toys they had? Would we have been so generous with our personal life? I don’t see us letting your sister and her kids swim in our pool or take our season tickets when we can’t make the game. Did we just use the Anderson’s because they had better crap than we did? Before you reply, think about all the friends we both have had over the years we no longer see. The ones that are not ‘like’ us because they do not have big houses, fancy cars, or can’t afford to go to expensive restaurants. Hell, you can eat for free at any restaurant your company owns and we never invited anyone we thought was ‘beneath’ us to any meals. Are we just snobs?”

At this point Kelly was getting mad. “What are you accusing me of?”

“I’m not accusing you of anything. I’m accusing me of being a snob who doesn’t want to hang around with people I think I’m better than. Like I’m really better than anyone else we know. Here I am thinking that I’m all high and mighty and I just realize that I’m actually poorer than most of the people I know.”

“What do you mean, ‘Poorer than everyone else’? We have a very nice house, great cars, and everything we need or want. We even took both of our parents to Europe with us last summer.”

“Yes, but we only did it so we could show them how successful we were. Once we were there, we really didn’t spend a lot of time with them, did we? They went their way with the kids. I played golf at every place I could find and you went to every spa you found. We didn’t care if none of our parents like those sorts of things and didn’t want to join us. We went anyway. We took them to watch the kids while we pampered ourselves, didn’t we?

Mark was on a roll and Kelly let him continue without voicing her doubts about his statements. “Think about how poor we actually are. Do we actually own anything? The house has a couple of mortgages and the banks wouldn’t think twice about taking it away from us if we miss a few payments. The cars are leased and when both leases are up, do you think we can renew them if we didn’t have our current jobs? Our new furniture has a payment plan. They repossess furniture too, you know. We are also loaded with credit card debt. We keep no available credit for emergencies. What would happen if we had a severe emergency and couldn’t get another mortgage or loan like we did last year when we went to Europe? Even if we did own this house we pay almost $1,000 a month in home owner’s fees .If we didn’t pay, the association would foreclose on us. They would take the house away to pay for the back fees just like they did to the soldier who was in Iraq. His wife couldn’t pay the $500 in back HOA fees because of a medical emergency and they foreclosed on his house while he was fighting in Iraq. All for about $500 in back fees! Come on, they take away a soldier’s house who was on the front lines fighting for our country and we don’t think anything like that could ever happen to us. They foreclosed on his house with no compassion for a few hundred dollars of fees he owed a home owners association. What do you think they will do with our house? Why would we ever live in a place that would do that?”

Mark went on, “You remember my cousin Peter? We used to hang around with him and his family all the he time until we ‘made it’. I ran into Aunt Mary the other day. She went on and on about how Peter had bought a house with cash and fixed it up so it looks wonderful. She said he has rebuilt at least ten cars and donated them to some people at his church who had lost their cars after losing their jobs. Mary said almost fifty people come to his shop each weekend to restore cars for members of the church and last month they rebuilt two houses for some elderly people. All organized by Peter.  When Peter had surgery last year, over three hundred people stopped by and wished him well. I mean, do I even know three hundred people, let alone three hundred people who cared about me enough to visit me in the hospital after surgery? I bet I would be lucky to see four people besides you and the kids and all four of them would be my parents and your parents. While I was talking to Aunt Mary all I could talk about was my job, our vacation to Europe and our new cars. I didn’t even mention the kids in the whole conversation. Kinda sad compared to Peter, huh? How pathetic is it I didn’t think of my own kids while talking to one of my own aunts. I bragged about my car but not my kids. The truth is I really do not know enough about what they do in order to brag on them like everyone else. I’m a sorry friend, a pathetic father, and a sad person. ”

“Don’t beat yourself up. We are no different from most people,” Kelly said knowing she would be in the same boat as Mark. They had the illusion of material wealth but no real wealth, no real friends, and no close family members outside of their parents. While she wouldn’t admit it to herself, she didn’t know much about her own kids. She wouldn’t have been able to brag on either of them if she had to have the same conversation with someone.

“Maybe that’s the problem,” replied Mark. “We are like everyone else around here. Maybe we need to spend a little more time developing the human side of our lives and less time on the career and materialistic sides. Maybe we need to reevaluate our thinking, if we think things are more important than people. I don’t know the answers yet, but I do know all I want to do now is to go get the kids and spend some time with them. Maybe spend the day at the park, at the ball game, at the zoo. I don’t care what we do as long as I can act like a real father for once in my life.”

Mark walked to the door separating the laundry room from the garage and stopped and hung his head. Kelly thought he heard him sob. “What’s wrong?”

“How long have I had this car? Two years right?”

“Yea, so?”

“I’ve had this car for two years and I just realized that the kids have never been in it.”

“That’s why we bought the Escalade. We needed something to hold everyone. Your car is for those times when we don’t have the kids. We deserve your sports car and we had fun showing it off to our friends,” Kelly said before she thought what they had been talking about all this time. They were so selfish they both wanted a car that would be more important to their friends than it would be to their family.

“Once again, it’s all about me isn’t it? I haven’t even considered my kids in my ‘grand’ design for life. I wonder sometimes why we even had them. It seems neither one of us are parent material.”

“Don’t say that!” Kelly replied angrily.

“I’m going to say a few questions out loud. Remember, I am talking to myself more than you.”

“Okay,” Kelly said with an angry look on her face.

“What are the kids’ best friend’s names? Where do they live?” Mark asked. “All I can say is that Cheyenne’s friend lives in the third house on the right on Maple past the park. I usually drop her off and rush off to whatever I had planned. I have never gone up to the door to talk to her friend’s parents. For all I know, it could be a crack house I’m leaving her at.”

“Don’t be silly, they are wonderful people.”

“You’ve met them?”

“Not really, mom thinks highly of them though.”

“My point exactly. Our parents are the parents to our kids, not us. What about their friends? I think Cheyenne has a friend named Cindy. Or is it Sally? She talks about her once in a while but I really don’t pay attention. Does Dakota have any friends? I know she’s young, but doesn’t she talk about anyone at day care. She’s five. She has to talk about someone at school she buddies up with. We just don’t know who it is, do we? Surely someone has invited her to a birthday party at some time. We really don’t pay attention to their lives, do we?”

Kelly sobbed, “No. You’re right. I can’t remember the last time I thought about anything my kids do each day. I just pass on everything to my mom or your mom hoping they will take care of it so I won’t have to be bothered. ”

“Ready for the next question?” Mark asked with a sad look in his eyes.  “If we had to throw each kid a birthday party tomorrow, what would the theme be for each one? I mean, what does each one of them like? I know what they like changes with every Disney movie our parents take them to, but what would it be? And come to think of it, when was the last time we took them to the movies?”

“Don’t worry. I don’t know the answer to those questions either.” Mark then said before Kelly could reply. “I don’t even know their favorite colors. Ok, final question.  This should be something at least one of us knows. What are their shoe sizes?”

Kelly had tears in her eyes when she answered, “I don’t know. I can’t remember the last time I took them shopping. Mom usually just says they need something and I leave her a credit card. I don’t remember buying them anything lately that didn’t come from a gift shop at some place we were visiting.”

Kelly wiped the tears from her eyes and said, “Let’s go get our kids and have some fun. I want to be with them. I don’t want to do this anymore.”

“Me, either,” said Mark. “But before we go, I have something else I need to tell you and will make your day even worse.” Mark told Kelly about the fuel shortages at work. He talked about the project to move the entire IT department offshore and how he thought he had maybe 30 or so months left at his job. He even told her about the research he had been doing on the web. She seemed worried about the job situation, leery about the fuel shortage he told her about, and down-right skeptical about all the other stuff he mentioned. She said she would be willing to spend some time next week researching the same topics to see if she came up with the same answers.

“What are we going to do about it?” she asked when he was done.

“I don’t know and really don’t want to think about it now. I need to finish my research and then we can have one last ‘selfish’ time together to come up with a master plan. Right now, all I want to do is go get my girls.”

“I’m with you there.”

Mark looked at her with a tear in his eye. “We’ll have to take your car. Even though I’m a father of two kids who still need a booster seat in the car, I don’t own any. I own five complete sets of golf clubs. I have four tennis rackets, two squash rackets, and a complete set of paint gun gear I used last year at the company retreat. I also own a bag of adult sized softball bats for the company league I played in three years ago. What I do not own, is one spare booster seat.  I couldn’t even pick them up from school or anywhere else if I wanted to. I don’t know what we are going to do about the future,” Mark went on. “But starting this moment on, I will never place a job or own desires above my family again. And I am going out first thing and getting a booster seat so I can pick up my kids from school and daycare when I want to.”

Kelly just smiled and opened the door to her SUV and while getting in said, “We can stop and get one on the way to my mom’s.”

The Turner’s had a wonderful day. Kelly’s parents were shocked Mark and Kelly picked the kids up so early and then announced they were going to spend the day at the zoo. All Dakota could say the entire day to everyone she met was “Mommy and Daddy are on vacation and now they have time to play with me.” Mark and Kelly just hung their heads in shame each time and tried not to look like the worst parents in the world. It would get to them now and then and they would excuse themselves and walk away for a little while to wipe away the tears.

The next day, the fun continued. Mark and Kelly made a giant breakfast with their limited cooking skills and played in the pool all morning with the kids. For lunch, they ordered everyone’s favorite pizza and watched two Disney movies. Mark even found time to have a tea party with Dakota while Cheyenne took a little nap with mommy. The following day was a school day and meant the end to their little “vacation”. The kids were a little disappointed they couldn’t spend another day with Mommy and Daddy, but Mark and Kelly promised them they would spend time together after school. Mark surprised everyone when he traded cars with Kelly for the day and took each girl to school that morning. They were also surprised when he left work early and picked each one up from school in the afternoon. He continued the pattern for the rest of the week to the delight of the girls and himself. All Mark wanted was to play with them for a few hours before they went to bed. He was trying to make up for all the times he spent pursuing his own goals over their welfare.  While Mark spent more time with the kids, Kelly tried her best to catch up with Mark and his research. Like Mark, it didn’t take her long to figure out the global economy was headed south.  It did not seem like the American government could get themselves together long enough to do anything about it. It also maddened her to see they were basically being lied to by the government and the media on how bad things were. She quickly saw a stumble here and there could spell the end of their dream and leave them in the same boat as John and Susan.

Kelly repeated some of her research while at work that week and starting seeing a pattern of the company closing down some restaurants without really telling anyone. They would quietly get rid of everyone in small batches so they didn’t have to report it to anyone. Since Kelly did not really do the day-to-day HR stuff anymore it was no wonder she missed it. In fact, given her level, she was able to look deeper into the company’s books late one night and what she found during her research worried her a lot. The company was about to announce the closure of a whole line of restaurants Kelly always thought was the cream-of-crop.  It seemed like the higher end places were suffering from an unannounced recession or depression. On Friday night after the kids went to bed, Mark and Kelly finished their research for the night and she said to Mark. “I see what you mean. We are only a few inches from being like Susan and John.”

“Yeah. And what it is scary is it will not even be our faults when we lose our jobs. We have spent more hours at work than anyone else we know of and have always done everything, and more, our companies have asked of us. This problem is not just going to be about those who are slacking off or have certain jobs. This fuel shortage problem and the economic issues it is causing are going to affect everyone in the service industry. No extra money means no one will want our services. With America being a service nation in which one person is working at a job that services another person. The whole country will go down the tubes quickly.”

“I agree with you now and don’t think you are a crackpot like I did last week,” she smiled.

“Thanks honey, I appreciate the fact you have my back. If I tell this to anyone else, they will think I am crackpot. I will be shunned like the homeless guy downtown who shouts bible phrases every time he sees someone walking up the street.”

“Like you know any bible phrases,” she laughed.

“I could always shout out database phrases like demoralization rules,” he laughed.

“Then everyone, including me, will definitely think you are mad.”

“The mad DBA will be all over the news.”

“Seriously, what are we going to do?”

“Fancy playing hooky next week and try to figure out a ‘Turner Action Plan’ to save our collective butts when the shit hits the fan?”

“Don’t you mean when TEOTWAWKI happens?” Kelly smiled.

“What is TEOTWAWKI?” asked Mark.

“You didn’t see the sites using that phrase? It means THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT.”

“I don’t think it will be an ending with zombie mutant bikers,” Mark smiled. “Just a world with a lot of poor people who can’t find jobs or feed their families. People who no longer can find a place to call home and are having a hard time keeping the hope alive that it will get better.  And I don’t think our mighty government will step in and save the day like some super hero. They are too busy saving their own butts and getting richer and richer from the ‘legalized’ bribes we call campaign donations.”

“I hear you,” replied Kelly. “I think I feel a very nasty series of migraines coming on and may not be able to make it in next week.”

“Owen is out next week at the data conference in Miami. I’m not wasting my days off. I’m just going to block off all days with fake meetings and answer a few emails now and then like I am bored during the meetings. See how long anyone really misses me.”

“You bad boy.”

“Maybe you can do something about that,” he sneered as he took her hand and headed upstairs to their bedroom.

Chapter 5

True to their words, both Mark and Kelly did not go in to work on Monday. Both stayed home to put together an action plan for their future. Kelly called in sick with a migraine and Mark faked his way out of going in work by replacing his current meeting schedule with new bogus meetings. He was able to get out of his normal meetings by claiming he needed to be in meetings for a new project given to him by the executives. His staff was used to him being unavailable and the executives just thought he was working extra hard on the out-source project given to him earlier. He figured if he checked emails a few times a day, no one would question where he was. His direct reports were used to him being out-of-pocket with higher level meetings.  The executives were too busy with the fuel shortage to care much about anything else.

After dropping the kids off at school, Mark and Kelly started setting up a mini conference room in their dining room. They figured this would be a multiple day discussion, so they wanted somewhere they could spread out and work in relative comfort. Kelly took out several whiteboards and placed them on easels around the room, while Mark set up a large TV to act as a monitor for both of their laptops. He was able to configure the monitor so all they had to be was to use a KVM switch to switch from one laptop to the other. This setup made the planning go faster as one of them could look things up while the other displayed something on their screens.

After setting up their little conference room, Mark and Kelly got down to business. “I’ve given this a little thought ever since I found out John committed suicide. I know I fell apart that day, but it was like someone lifted a veil from my eyes. I was able to see the person I had become and I did not like that person one bit. I have turned into one of the people we used to make fun of in college. You know the ones we always called fake or stuck-up.  We despised them all those years but ended up exactly like them.“

“I know,” Kelly frowned. “I’ve come to the same conclusion over the past week as well. I never thought we were neglecting the kids until Dakota kept telling everyone we were on vacation because we took a Saturday off and played with them. Really, a Saturday off to play with our kids! It wasn’t like we went out with them on a work day. It was a weekend for god’s sake.”

“I know. I think we have started changing that part of our lives already. I’ve thought about this and I desperately want to start becoming the father I always dreamed of being. I want my family to come first instead of my job and my career. My family will always be there and I’ve learned over the past few weeks what I thought was a solid financial future is actually weak. I also realize now as much as we think we are in charge of our future, we are not. At any time a company can cast you aside when they think that getting rid of you would be better for the firm. They would not think twice about doing so if it helped the bottom line. No company is worth losing your family over. At any time, some event out of our control or even out of humanities control can alter our society in ways we can’t imagine. Why should I give up my present life with my family when three years down the road everything can change in a heartbeat? I don’t want to be one of those people whose last words are regrets for spending too much time at work and not enough time with their family. What I want to do is to start either taking the kids to school each morning or picking them up each afternoon. I could do one and you the other. Another option would be to pick a day and work from home or have a short work day to be with the kids when they come home after school.”

“There’s only four weeks left in the school year. Since you always complain your group at work doesn’t get going until after nine each morning, why don’t you take the kids to school. I will pick them up each afternoon. It would be easier for me to drive to work early and leave early and easier for you to go in late and leave late each day. This way I’ll miss most of the morning rush hour and can start leaving earlier and miss the evening rush hour as well. You will miss the morning rush hour and can come home after the evening rush hour if you need. You’re closer to work than I am so the evening rush hour shouldn’t be a problem for you. You should be able to get both kids in the car for the short ride to the day care and Cheyenne’s school now that you have car seats.”

“That’s fine, but I’m still going to be home by 6:30 each night. I’m not going to miss out on things anymore because of Plains Airlines,” Mark said as he looked at her. “I’m also going to try to figure out how to work from home more. I spend most of my time in meetings in which at least half the people are dialed into a conference number anyway. Why not join them and call in to the meetings instead of being there in person.”

Kelly agreed, “Deal. What about summer? What do you want to do then?”

“I think we will work on summer when the time comes. Between me working at home more, vacation, camps, your parents and my parents, I think we can still stay somewhat with our new schedule. I’ll take them where they need to go each day and you pick them up from their last event or from our parents or your parents. Anything happening during the day can be a combination of all of us and whoever is free at the time can play taxi. As long as one of us is always involved during the morning and evening events we can call it a success. I have a feeling with everything going on at work I will be spending a lot of time working from home anyway. I keep getting this feeling my days at Plains are numbered anyway.“

“What about dinner each night? I did Taco Bell on my nights and you always ordered pizza on your nights, our parents fed them the other nights. Don’t you think we need to make sure we have more family dinners?”

“We can still do take out and have pizza night. I might even learn to fire up the grill one night a week and do something. Hell, I might even learn to cook something else once in a while. As long as we all eat together, it doesn’t matter what we eat.”

“What are you going cook? Toast? You haven’t cooked since college. All you did then was just throw a collection of cans you happened to take from your parents on the weekends into a pot.”

“I can grill a mean hamburger and hot dog. I’ll make you a bet. I will cook one night a week and you cook one night a week and after a month we’ll determine which one’s dinner the kids like better. And no cheating! You can’t just go buy the food at the store and heat it up. You have to cook the whole thing!”

“Are you referring to my Thanksgiving dinner a few years ago when I bought it all from Bill’s Deli? That dinner was good.”

“I know it was,” Mark said, “but on the nights we are supposed to cook, everything has to be assembled and cooked at home. We can save the cheating for the other nights.”

“Ok, I’ll cook one night, you another, pizza one night, tacos another and we play Friday night and the weekends by ear. We’ll see who wins at the end of July and the loser has to handle all meals during our vacation.”

“It’s a bet,” Mark laughed and held out his hand for Kelly to shake.

“Is that it for the family section of our programming?” Kelly asked with a big smile on her face.

“No. Not by a long shot. I also want to schedule one night each month as a date night, just the two of us. No calls or emails and no cancelling for meetings. The kids can go to the grandparents so we can have our night. I also want the date night to extend to each of the girls. One night a month spent with Cheyenne and one night spent with Dakota.”

“I get the same deal, one night with each of the kids as well. When you have Cheyenne, I will take Dakota somewhere. And switch the next time. We should also talk to our parents about why we are doing this. They basically raise the kids now and if all of sudden we start taking them away, they’ll get confused and think it is something they did.”

“I know,” Mark said, “but I think they will understand. Besides we can still go over to their house one night a week and have a group dinner. Your parents one week and mine the next. Anyway, that fits in with the overall plan of getting closer to everyone.”

Mark and Kelly continued discussing little things they wanted to do to keep closer to their kids and parents. One of the items they came up with was to get a large poster printed from a picture Kelly had of all of them at the beach. They would put this poster up in their room so the first thing they would see in the morning would be a giant picture of their family having fun. Mark decided he was going to set the screen saver on his computers to rotate between pictures of Kelly, his kids, his parents, and even his brothers and sister. He was even going to mix in a few self-made jpegs into the screen saver rotation that had the phrase ‘Remember Your Promise to Us’ on them. That way he would always remember his promise to place his family first from now on. Both of them figured having constant reminders of what they promised would keep them on track when things got busy and they started to slip back into their old routines. Humans tend to fall back into old habits quickly when things became a little stressful or they became tired. Creating new habits and ignoring old ones would be a challenge for Mark and Kelly and they wanted to use every trick in the book they could find.

After finishing up with all the things they were going to do with family wise, Mark continued, “I want to reconnect with our extended families as well. We see our parents all the time, but just long enough to hand the kids off or pick them up. We have this great place with the pool and other amenities, so I want to throw at least one party a month for the family. Even if it’s not on a holiday, I don’t care. I want to get to know our parents, as well as our brothers’ and sister’s families a lot better than I do now.”

“Wow, you’re wound up aren’t you?”

“You bet. I’ve been thinking about this for a while now. I’m a little depressed thinking about how little I know about some of the people who are supposed to be the most important people in my life. I want that to end. I want to know what they do, what is important to them, and what they want out of life. I’ve been so wrapped up in myself I have forgotten that this world is full of interesting people and I bet a few of them are related to us.”

“Ok, let’s start planning a Memorial Day party.”

“That should come as a shock to them to be invited to our ‘mansion’ as Amber called it.”

After making plans for a Memorial Day blow-out, Mark wanted to create a family handbook holding each family member’s information, everything from addresses to Facebook account information. Mark and Kelly each opened up their own Facebook accounts and started trying to capture as many family members as they found. They searched through the friend lists of other family members. Several times they had to ask who someone was to jog their memory of cousins and kids of cousins. Eventually, they had captured most of them and figured they would work on the others over time.

After a few hours of working on their handbook, they took a break for an extended lunch at a small place up the road. Each time in the past they drove by this place one or the other had always said, “We need to try that place out.” They had never stopped before because they just couldn’t see themselves eating at places that were not name brands or owned by famous chiefs.  After Mark’s hamburger and fries got to his table, he took a big bite and exclaimed, “Wow! This is good. One of the best hamburgers I’ve had in a long while.”

“I know, just think this place has been here for as long as I can remember and we have been missing out all that time.”

“Ok, no more judging places because they are not chains or mentioned in the food columns. No offense to your company but we should start finding more places like this,” Mark said between bites of his burger.

“I agree. This place is wonderful and the prices are great.”

“Coming from a woman who spends $50 just eating a salad with her friends at the spa every Saturday, that’s quite a statement.”

“I have a feeling those days are over.”

Mark looked at Kelly and said, “I have the same feeling. But I’m not all that sad about it.”

“Neither am I,” Kelly said as she dug back into her burger.

After lunch, Mark and Kelly pulled out all the paperwork they found that might have family information on it. Old Christmas and birthday cards, an old invitation list from Mark’s grandmother’s 90th birthday party, and the list someone tried to make the last time the family got together. They spent the rest of the afternoon compiling the information and putting it into their new family handbook with one part for Mark’s family and another for Kelly’s. Both Mark and Kelly worked up until time to go get the kids from school and felt like the day was a tremendous success. After spending all the time putting the information together, they vowed they were going to make use of it to start getting back in touch with their families.

They left together to pick up the kids from school and take them to the park until dinner time.  After deciding their little dinner bet wouldn’t start until the kids were out of school, they decided to go back to the same restaurant where they had lunch. After a nice meal, they spent a little more time with the girls watching a movie before sending them to bed. Having spent all day on the computer, they decided to skip their research for the night. They spend the rest of the evening sitting on their porch overlooking the pool and drinking a few glasses of wine before going to bed themselves.

“I could get use to this,” Kelly said as she held Mark’s hand by the pool while watching the stars come out.

“Me too. We might have been selfish in the past, but at least we did make it a habit to have a drink together each night before we went to bed.”

“Maybe, but if you think about it hard enough, how much time did we really spend together? Both of us spent most of the night working. We rarely talked about anything and sometimes drank our wine as fast as we could so we could either go back to work or go to bed exhausted. “

“Point taken,” Mark acknowledged. “That will never happen again.”

Kelly just smiled and visually relaxed some more as she sat next to Mark and drank in the moonlight.

The next morning after dropping the kids off at school, the Turners ate a late breakfast at what they were now calling the “family” diner. Once back home they started to work on the next segment of Mark’s plan. After settling down Kelly asked, “What’s on the agenda for today?”

“You know how we both used to have lots of friends? We regularly got invited to party after party. I want to try to get some of that back.”

“What do you mean?” Kelly asked.

“I want to try to make contact with all the friends I’ve had over the years and lost touch with. I know some of them may reject me, but the others I want to try to get back into our lives. I know I blew off a lot of them as we became more successful. I’m hoping some of them will not be too pissed off at me and become good friends again.”

“This should be easy,” Kelly said. “With Facebook and the other social sites on the web we should be able to find most of those friends fairly quickly. Once we find them, maybe we can start contacting them on Facebook, eventually ask them out to eat, and then bring them here for parties.”

“Exactly,” said Mark. “I see our holiday parties are going to get a lot bigger in the future. We have the space here for dozens of people, so why not fill it every holiday.”

Mark and Kelly spent the day making lists of past friends they wanted to get back in touch with. They looked over high school yearbooks, college yearbooks, sorority and fraternity lists. They remembered past coworkers each of them would like to get to know again and current coworkers they would like to know a little better. Once they found a name, they would search through Facebook for the person or through the friend’s list on Facebook of other contacts.  They found almost all of the people on their list and sent friend requests on Facebook to many of them and connection request on LinkedIn for some of the others.

The day passed quickly and was fun to both Mark and Kelly as they remembered things from the past they never told each other. By the time they needed to end their day and pick up the kids from school, they gained a lot of insight on the lives they had while growing up. In the end both Mark and Kelly knew more about each other than they ever had.  Both promised they would contact each person on their list at least once a week. Each wanted to care about the response from the friend and not just make the contact to “check-in” and then blow away the response as many people do.

Chapter 6

On Wednesday, Kelly called in sick for the rest of the week.  Wednesday would be the day they needed to start trying to figure out what they were going to do to help ensure their financial future. With the upcoming, probable loss of Mark’s job, he felt certain things needed to change and change quickly. Mark believed the economy would get much worse than anyone in authority acknowledged. He believed the global economy was on the verge of slipping into a deep depression which would last many decades. Although, he couldn’t tell you when the depression would start and how bad it would become. He was sure over the next few years things would change all around the world.  He did not believe in a world without governments or one with large armies of gang members running around slaughtering everyone. It was a popular theme in many of the end-of-world books he had been reading lately. Over the next few years, Mark believed, crime would become out of control. City, county, and state governments would face cash flow issues and would start to disband their police forces. Each one would state they had made arrangements with someone else to protect their citizens, but the protection provided would be nothing like what the public was used to. People would have to start learning how to protect themselves from small gangs of criminals.

Mark also believed the fuel shortage would affect the price and availability of food in America. Large numbers of Americans would face starvation on a daily basis. The government would try to help. As more people became unemployed, fewer taxes could be collected.  Even the federal government would be without the resources needed to provide nutrition for millions of Americans. The American government certainly could not send large amounts of food and monies overseas like we do today to help other countries. Countries would go to war over the remaining world resources. People in those countries would have to live in the aftermath as economies would not be strong enough after the destruction was over. Mark believed what are considered stable countries today, would splinter as people chose not to be governed by others hundreds or thousands of miles away. Americans would want local governments they thought would better to serve their needs than a far-away federal government. Governments would exist, but on what levels he wasn’t sure about.

Mark planned on trying to convince Kelly about the upcoming global fuel shortage. He also wanted her to start believing in the world-wide depression he saw was looming. He needed her to believe in both those threats, so they could start creating the action list they needed in order to prepare for the next few years. Mark just did not know how to convince her of what he saw as a serious situation facing the family. He knew he might be able to convince her he would lose his job and their income would go down. She couldn’t believe he would not be able to get another job after a few months. Kelly was smart. Convincing her to go from the belief of the infallibility of the American way of life to one of global depression would be difficult for Mark.

“So how did you want to start this?” Kelly asked as she tidied up from breakfast and came over to the dining room table.

“I’ve been thinking about this.  I think we should write what we believe is going to happen and what we believe is not going to happen within the next few years. We need to think about our own family as well as the future of the world while we are doing this. This will give us a starting point on what we believe is going to happen in the future and how we should prepare for it.”

“What do you mean, ‘The future of the world?” Kelly responded. “Isn’t this about your job and how we are going to handle the loss? Are you trying to say you believe the economy is about to crash? Why do you think that? What do you know you are not telling me?”

“I know I’ve had a little more time with this and have done more research than you, but I believe the world is about to take a nasty turn. The research I’ve done on the fuel shortage has led me to believe the shortages will not end. They will continue and continue to get worse in a short time frame. I believe the global economy is about to crash because of the fuel shortage and I don’t think anyone can stop the crash. Our whole way of life depends upon cheap fuel prices. It’s not hard to see what would happen to society if fuel prices sky rocketed. I can image scenario after scenario of how things would change if gas cost $15 to $20 a gallon.”

“I’ve seen some of this on the Internet,” Kelly interrupted. “I didn’t think you believed in all the conspiracy stuff you showed me?”

“I don’t believe in most of them. But I do believe in Peak Oil or I should say End of Cheap Oil. I’ve had nightmares on how things will be if a normal person couldn’t buy gas. Just think about how our world is set up and what would happen if you couldn’t drive anywhere without gas costing a large portion of your budget. Or what would happen if fuel becomes scarce and governments decide ordinary people like us are not allowed to buy gas. Some places might be fine for a while, but even large urban areas will suffer. They may be able to walk to work or take a train into town, but all the daily necessities needed to survive are not made there or grown there. Without cheap fuel prices all those large farms will not be able to operate. No farms, means no food. “

“In fact,“ he continued, ” I’m seeing some of the effects now at Plains and at other airlines. We are not the only ones who have started cancelling flights lately. I know we are making up flimsy excuses to try to cover the real reasons, so I can guess the other airlines are doing the same thing. World Airlines cancelled two hundred flights last week for a mechanical defect, but we fly the same type of plane and we didn’t shut down for the defect. I think they may be starting to feel the effects of a fuel shortage as well.”

“I have also become aware of the little things lately. I’ve been hearing people at work complain about how their favorite online sites have stopped free shipping. They are finding more and more things at the store either costing more or not being available anymore. I walked in on a few of my DBAs talking about how one of them wanted to ask for a raise. She said the reason was because the prices she pays for food has gone way up. I heard her tell the other girl she thought prices have gone up about 20% over the last few months. Owen told me he was in a meeting in which they discussed raising airfare ticket prices by about 25%. They said costs for everything have started to escalate and they were having a hard time making enough profit. They weren’t just talking about fuel they were talking about all of the supplies used on the planes during each flight.”

“You don’t think they will figure something out?” Kelly asked.  “Isn’t the new plane supposed to be so much better on fuel? Wouldn’t they just switch over to the new plane over the next few years and save enough money to make their profit levels?”

“Maybe. But think about it in these terms. We have over 2,500 planes that would need to be replaced. How long do you think all those planes would take? If we start shutting down routes, replacing old planes with new ones, and using larger planes instead of the smaller ones, what would happen to our stock price? Remember, the entire American business world only seems to care about stock prices. They would do anything to keep the prices up, including running the business into the ground.”

“That’s kind of a pessimistic view of American business, isn’t it? Surely, they wouldn’t do that.”

“Oh yeah, they did exactly that at WorldComm and DigiCorp. Remember how they got caught cooking the books and all those executives went to jail. They were willing to risk jail time to keep the stock prices high. What makes you think they wouldn’t lie about fuel shortages to keep the stock prices high? They need the stock prices as high as possible when they leave and sell out.”

“OK, OK. I concede the point, but I’m not ready to concede the end of the economy version you are thinking about. What about Plains?” Kelly asked to get them back on the topic she wanted to talk about.

“They’re scrambling to adjust to the growing shortage of fuel. I don’t think they have a clue how to go about solving their problem and are just grasping at straws at this point. What makes them think out-sourcing everything and saving a few bucks over the short-term is going to save them when they never have enough fuel to fly their planes? I mean they are an airline and make money flying planes full of people from one point to another. Without fuel, what are they going to do, get out and push? What I believe is they are going to use the out-sourcing move to cover the fuel shortages for a little while longer. Blame IT a few more months, announce the move, blame the move for issues for a while and then blame the out-sourcing company. They might even get another 2-3 years out of the story before they have to come clean about the fuel. I don’t think their plan will work. The fuel shortage will continue to grow and they will not be able to explain the problems they are going to have.”

“Ok,” Kelly said. “I know you believe things I don’t, so why don’t we just skip going over my thoughts at this time. I was only going to put on the board you would lose your job at Plains, but would be able to find another one. I was going to concede the new job would be at a reduced salary level and might take you a few months to find. I believe you would bounce back in one form or another. I’m not sure I’m ready to believe everything you just said, but I’m willing to start looking into your views more. I’ve never told you, but when we started looking at this I found out my company is going to close down an entire chain of restaurants. It seems the Castle chain is losing a lot of money. They had been trying to sell the chain off, but no one wanted to buy so they are closing them. That’s about two hundred restaurants.”

“I didn’t know that. See what I’m talking about? I bet the sales were down because of the high prices they charged at Castle. It seems as if even people like us are starting to cut back on spending. I wished I thought everything would come out just fine in the future. I just can’t seem to get over being pessimistic about everything in the world now. I have been having nightmares about us living in boxes and the girls starving because I was too stubborn to see the obvious. To accept things are not always going to be as good as we’re used to and falling to plan for bad times. Even if nothing happens, at least some of the work we will do could make us happier during our retirement. Get rid of all those extra expenses now while we have good cash flow so we can spend more during retirement on fun stuff.”

Mark walked up to his whiteboard and drew two lines done the board splitting it into three equal parts. He then labeled the sections “What I Believe Will Happen”, “What I Think May Happen”, and “What I Think Will Not Happen”. With the board ready, he started in the first section and wrote, “I believe in 30 months or so, I will no longer be employed at Plains Airlines.”

Kelly broke in, “Are we going to discuss each point?”

“Yes, but after I finish with this round.”

“Ok”

Mark went on and in the middle section wrote, “I think I will have a hard time finding a new job at my current salary and career level.” In the last section he wrote, “I do not think we will continue to be able to afford our current lifestyle going forward.”

Kelly said, “Ok. I see where you are going with this. Why don’t you write everything you want to talk about during this first round and I’ll go make some coffee? I think we are going to need a lot of coffee over the next three days to get through this.”

“Sounds good,” Mark said as he continued working on his points. As Kelly walked back in with the coffee, Mark finished reading his first set of discussion points and knew what he was going to say about each one.

“Now, let’s give this a try to see where we end up,” Kelly said as she sat down her coffee and got comfortable in one of the dining room chairs.

Mark went to the white board and turned the board around so both of them could see what he had written on it while Kelly was in the kitchen.

What I Believe Will Happen

1.        I believe in 30 months or so, I will no longer be employed at Plains Airlines.

2.       Because of the fuel shortage, I believe Plains Airlines will go out of business.

3.       I believe I will lose my job in the next 24-30 months.

4.      Because of my age, past salary, and a global economic depression, I will not be able to find a job paying more than 50% of my present salary.

5.       Because of the fuel shortage, I believe the restaurant industry will almost collapse as people cannot afford to eat out often.

6.       Because of the fuel shortage, I believe airline companies and other businesses which rely heavily on some sort of fuel will go out of business.

7.       I believe food will become so pricy many people will not be able to afford to feed their family.

What I Think May Happen

1.        I think there will be huge numbers of homeless people, poor people, and large amounts of people who have jobs that barely kept them a float.

2.       There will be a small number of middle-class business owners making up the middle-class.

3.       There will be a small number of rich people who still try to control everything.

4.      I think the lifestyles we are living now will soon be a thing of the past.

What I Think Will Not Happen

1.        I do not think we will continue to be able to afford our current lifestyle going forward.

2.       I do not think the government will collapse completely.

3.       I do not think civilization will collapse completely.

4.      I do not believe the conspiracy theories posted on the internet about how this was planned by anyone.

5.       I do not believe in the end-of-world disasters posted on the internet, which shows us living like our ancestors did centuries ago.

“That’s my first set of beliefs. What do you think?” Mark asked Kelly.

“Do you really believe in all that?” Kelly whispered.

“Yes. I know what I said is a little out-there. I believe the cheap oil we have used to build our current lifestyles and economies is about to come to an end. There will always be oil somewhere and there will always be other sources of fuel you can buy to put into a car. The price will be so high it will just destroy everything we know. The average citizen will not be able to afford fuel and eventually there will be no places to buy gas except in certain rich neighborhoods. The rich might even have their own private gas stations like they do country clubs and golf courses.”

“You don’t think we will be able to make our way through this? We’re both pretty smart.”

“That is part of why I wanted to start making plans. If we wait until the last minute like everyone else, then we will not have a chance. You know I always talk about the age barrier in IT. Hell, even I do not hire older people when I have job openings. I always think they would not be current with the latest technology or they would demand benefits I’m not willing to give them. That’s kinda going to bite me in the butt as I get older because I’m going to face the same discrimination I’ve handed out all these years. I also believe you will be able find another job when the restaurant industry collapses. You might have to take a large pay cut but your skills are valuable at a lot of different companies. We just have to be prepared and able to make the jump when it happens.”

“I’ve always have thought you would lose your current job at Plains based on what you told me. I just thought you would be able to get something else with them at the same or slightly lower salary.” Kelly replied. “I guess it makes sense now I think about what you are saying about the age barrier. I always find it hard to believe companies will not take the person best suited for the job, but I guess it was just the HR person in me. I know things are done differently in the real world because I’ve seen some well qualified people get the brush off after good interviews.  I have always wanted to believe the reason was because of some reason other than their age, but I’ve always known it was because of their age. I just refused to let myself believe it.”

“I know, but I’ve seen the same thing time and time again in the IT industry. Unless you have a big name in the industry because of books or something else or you are riding on an executive’s coattails, no one hires IT people over fifty. Everyone always thinks they are too old to understand the latest and greatest and they will want to do everything like they have always done. I guess this comes from the older guys we do have refusing to learn new technology and thinking the new isn’t as good as the old. We just do not give everyone a fighting chance because of the way things used to be. I don’t have much hope for my career at this point. Owen is only a few years older than me and he was talking about retiring after this is all over. He doesn’t think he will find another job either once Plains starts letting us go. I guess part of it is our fault because we are out-sourcing as well so if everyone follows suit then what is left here for IT people?”

“Ok. I can come to grips with Plains downsizing based on what you told me, but do you think this fuel shortage is more than just a temporarily shortage? I did some research when you first mentioned the shortage. Don’t you think the oil sands, electric cars, and other new products will cover the loss of oil?”

“At first, I wanted to believe something would make a difference. When I looked into those promises deeper, the more I kept coming back to was all those things people throw out there will only help so much. They tend to forget the average person can’t afford a $40,000 electric car. Even if the prices go down, there are a lot of cars that need to be replaced in a short time. How are you going to manufacture millions of cars in five or so years people can afford? What about the shortage of materials like lithium that would make manufacturing all those batteries needed for those millions of electric cars? Manufacturing that many cars in the amount of time we have left would be impossible.  Sure, if we had a decade or more then we might be able to ride it out, but a decade ago no one cared. Even today, I don’t think anyone will care until they are facing the end of the rope. By then it will be too late.”

“So you believe we will run out of oil and be thrown back to the stone age like some of those web sites claim?”

“No, I think oil will always be around, but I think oil and gas will become much more expensive as the cheap stuff runs out. What I believe, is the price of a barrel of oil and the corresponding price of a gallon of gas will become very expensive.  Old Joe next door will not be able to afford gas for his cars. If that was the only outcome then fine, we all walk to work, ride bikes, get motorcycles, electric cars, take mass transit or ride a horse.  Maybe companies will allow the vast majority of office workers to telecommute to help out. But what most people seem to forget is our whole way of life is built on cheap oil. Having higher prices for gas just doesn’t make things more expensive for me to get to work. It makes everything shipped from one point to another expensive. Think about the domino effect if we had to pay 20% more for everything. We would start doing without a lot of everyday purchases which would cost jobs; those people wouldn’t be able to find jobs, and so on and so on. Eventually the economy will crash because of the lack of spending.”

“Do you think the crash will be that bad? Sure, some would lose their jobs, maybe even us, but others would still work and everyone would just adjust to the new reality,” Kelly said.

“I think some people will. I think if the crash happens next year and we haven’t prepared for it, we wouldn’t be able to survive the change either. Look at how much we spend each month. Trying to replace our incomes in a bad recession or depression may be impossible. What if we start losing everything because we can’t afford to keep everything? How would that make you feel? We know what losing everything did to John. Would we be able to overcome it? What happens if we have to leave our house and our credit is bad and we can’t get another? It’s those types of things I want to mull over to see if there is anything we can do to help us survive in some form or fashion. I want a plan that does not include living in a tent next to the freeway begging for food. Let me go over some things I’ve learned about Peak Oil and see if you still believe what you do after I am finished,” Mark said. He used his laptop to navigate to his favorite Peak Oil website.

A few hours later, Mark finished his explanation to Kelly. “I’ve never thought about how much our lifestyle depends upon oil,” Kelly said as Mark finished up.

“I know.  The realization came as a shock to me as well.  At first, I didn’t want to believe it, but as time went by I started seeing everything in a new light. I went to Tex-Mart and the only thing I could think of was ‘How much everything would cost if oil was three times more expensive?’  I mean, would we really import everything from China if the cost of shipping it over was three or four times more expensive?”

“The cost of food worries me,” Kelly remarked. “I know the cost of food for our restaurants is only a small part of the overall costs of running things. I don’t want to think about what it would be like if food costs became the major budget item of running a restaurant. I don’t know how we would stay in business if the cost of an average meal at the restaurant was over a hundred dollars per family. It’s one thing to pay for a $15 hamburger or a $50 steak at a fancy restaurant. Try telling the Texas Restaurants crowd a meal will now cost them a few hundred dollars when a family meal once cost $60 or $70 dollars. We’ll go out of business in a heartbeat.”

“Ok. I’ve told you my belief I will lose my job and the world will enter a depression caused by high prices for gas and oil. I also believe the depression will cause you to lose your job in the restaurant business as restaurants close down. I have more hope for you finding something else than me, but I think it will also be at about 50% of your current salary.”

“So, you’re saying in a few years we will only be making about half of what we do today.”

“Yes. The bad thing is prices for everything we will need to survive will be much higher. The total effect on our incomes will be as if we are making about 25% of what we are now.”

Kelly looked at him and let what he said sink in. “How will we survive? How will anyone survive?”

“I think you will see people living in America in the same way poor people live in Mexico, Africa, or India. Cardboard houses, filthy living conditions, kids dying of starvation, people living ten or twenty to a small house. Things that make us give money to charity today will be the norm for tens or hundreds of millions of Americans in the next decade or so.”

“What are we going to do?” Kelly said.  She thought about her kids running around with no shoes and bloated bellies like she had seen on a commercial a few days ago for a children’s overseas charity.

“Let’s take a break and walk around a bit. Talking about this stuff depresses me and makes me just want to hold the kids and lie to myself everything will be alright. Sometimes I wished I’d never learned about all of this and still was in the dark. It’s hard to think you believe things others don’t and most wouldn’t believe even if you told them about it.”

After their quick walk around the block, Kelly sat back down.  “So, you left off with the world coming to end and everyone in America going coming poor, homeless, and starving.”

“Somewhere along those lines,” Mark replied with a small grimace.

“You’ve been thinking about this longer than I have, what’s your plan?”

“First, I want to tell you a few things I don’t believe,” Mark said. “I don’t think the world is coming to an end. I don’t believe in armies of outlaws mowing down everyone they see. I don’t believe in the total collapse of government or the total collapse of the economy. I don’t buy into the whole conspiracy theory of global elites trying to take control over the world and making us their slaves. None of that stuff. There will always be some form of government, government will be a lot smaller and might even disappear at some levels we have today. I don’t know if city government will disappear. But I think county, state and federal governments will disappear. I don’t know yet what form of government we may have but someone will always be around trying to control some things and make us pay taxes. I think the level of services we get from our government will be reduced to almost nothing. There may be some road maintenance, water departments, electricity, and things like that but nothing like we have today.”

“You think don’t think crime will rise?”

“I think crime will go up dramatically and quickly. I don’t think gangs will organize into armies like some people believe, but crime will escalate because cities will have to get rid of large numbers of cops. Once the punks start learning they have a large amount of time before a cop shows up.  We can expect more robberies, car jackings, muggings, break-ins, and other crimes existing today but kept under control by the police. Criminals will start up black markets for things most people can’t get any more due to supply issues. We have to plan on how to avoid most of those things when we can. I don’t want to have to depend upon some gang for my daily bread. If we don’t ever go to a black market, then maybe we will be less of a target. I think crime will be everywhere because cops will no longer patrol like they do today. The few cops left will show up to work at a police station, only respond to a crime after it happens and when someone tells them about it. People are going to be on their own again.”

“What about the other functions of government? Social security, health care, food stamps,” Kelly said thinking about their parents who had long ago retired and lived off of social security and Medicare.

“All that will be gone. Most of those systems are almost bankrupt today. When the depression hits, those things will stop as will most pensions. People believe their pensions are protected, but they are not. The company can go out of business, or even sell itself, and the pension can go up in smoke. Same thing with government handouts, they are not guaranteed and people are going to be on their own. Families will have to come back together and help take care of their own like they use to, or like the Amish and other religious groups do today.”

“Can’t we warn everyone so they can prepare too?” Kelly said as she was trying to grasp any straw that came around.

“Would either one of us have believed this just a few months ago if someone tried to warn us? We would have laughed at them and called them idiots or kooks. If fact, there are people trying to warn us about all of this on the internet today. They are called idiots, kooks, nuts, and just about everything else the media can come up with to make them seem like flakes. There are even a few rich people preparing for some meltdown and telling others, but they are being ignored as well. Even a few congressmen have stated they are prepping for a meltdown. No one takes them seriously. They just give them a few minutes of air time now and then and then completely ignore what we are being warned about.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I usually roll my eyes and circled my ear with my finger. I always think they are crazier than that homeless guy who stands at the corner of Main and Maple each weekend and shouts the world is ending. I think he knows something more than everyone else does at this point,” Kelly smiled

“I was the same before I started doing all this research. Should we look him up and ask him what he knows?” Mark said. “I would have laughed at anyone who tried to convince me of what we are discussing and made it a point to avoid them in the future. I don’t think most people are ready to hear this or even want to hear it. They are too conditioned by the media and government to think anything bad would never happen to America. They would just think some genius or some government program would come along with a plan and make everything better without any pain on their part.”

“I thought the same way a few hours ago,” Kelly said. “Now I wonder if there is anything we can do to ride this out or our fate is living under a bridge, hunting rats for food,”

“Maybe it will.  But, remember, we both think it is coming and have time to prepare as much as we can before it hits.”

“Do you know when this will happen?” Kelly asked.

“Not really. Soon I think, but I don’t know exactly when. I have been doing research on economic indicators and think I can track the meltdown. I am hoping these indicators will give us enough warning so we can adjust our plan if we think things will fall apart before the next three years. I hope they will even show us if things get better. I don’t think that will happen because of the fuel shortage, but I can hope. I do think because of the amount of time it will take to redo our lifestyles for less energy usage, America is not going to be prepared. I don’t see any major effort by our government to move past oil as the main fuel source. They give out sound bites about the other forms of energy, but I don’t see them spending trillions of dollars on alternative energy research. They are spending trillions on the wars we are fighting today to secure more oil sources. Given what I know today, I can’t tell when the crash is going to happen, how bad the crash will be, or how long it will last. I can tell you I believe the economy will meltdown and it will be within the next three to five years. ”

“What economic indicators?” Kelly asked going back to their earlier conversation.

After Kelly asked about economic indicators, Mark spent the rest of the day explaining what he had learned about various economic indicators. He walked Kelly through the reports he had built off of a simple spreadsheet he had on his laptop. He showed her the various indicators economists and stock market investors deemed important to show the health of. Mark showed her how many of the numbers were getting worse according to the few years of data he had gathered. Unemployment was going up, wages were going down. Oil, gasoline, and natural gas prices were starting to move at a greater uphill rate than a few years before.

Mark showed Kelly how he had started tracking his own consumer prices and how those prices were going up over the short time he had been tracking them. The thing Mark wanted to stress to Kelly was not that the numbers were getting worse each month, but the numbers were getting worse by a larger percentage every month. It isn’t that an additional 1% of Americans are unemployed this month compared to three months ago the problem is the rate of change had risen. The rate wasn’t a .1% or .2% rate of change anymore, the rate was .3% or .4% now and those numbers added up quickly.

“I see what you mean now,” Kelly looked at Mark. “After seeing what you have been tracking and how you went back a few years and trended things out, I can see why you are more worried than I am. This paints a pretty bad picture of things, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah. I’m at a loss on trying to figure out the response we need to do. It would be much easier if I had a deadline to work against. Something like ‘You now have thirty months left before the price of gas will go up to $20 a gallon – Are you prepared?’ I don’t have anything like that.  I do not know how to prep for what I think is going to happen and still live what everyone would call a ‘normal’ life before it happens. I’m not ready to dump everything and hide out in a cave in the mountains waiting for the world to end. I’m not there and I hope I never am, but I know we have to do something dramatic.”

“Well, we don’t have to change everything all at once do we? We can start making changes we know will have a positive impact no matter what happens. We can start by preparing for the one thing both of us now agree on,” Kelly stated.

“What’s that?” Mark asked.

“The fact you will lose your job and my job may or may not go away, but I’ll have to take a pay cut. I think we need to plan on trying to live on half of what we make today as soon as possible and go from there on whatever else may happen. If we can get our living expenses down, it will give us extra money while we are both fully employed to move in other directions if we need.”

“OK. Why don’t we go pick up the kids and spend the rest of the day with them? We can back-burner this until tomorrow morning. That is if we can sleep at all after this.”

Chapter 7

After dropping the kids off at school the next morning, Mark and Kelly settled back into the dining room.  Mark started outlining what he thought they should do in the short and long terms to prepare for the economic troubles ahead. “Let’s setup some baselines,” Mark started off the conversation. “No matter what happens, we both now believe my job is probably gone and yours may be in jeopardy.”

“Agreed,” Kelly said after taking a sip of coffee. “I also agree with you the next round of jobs we get will be at salaries which will be about 50% of what we make today.”

“Correct,” Mark took over. “Another thing we both agree on is the economy will start to crash in the future due to the ongoing fuel shortage. Neither one of us can determine when and how bad the meltdown will be, but we both think it will happen within three to five years. I think we can probably agree it’s closer to five years than it is ten years.”

“I don’t like to think about all this, but I’ll agree to all of those things as well,” Kelly said. “So what are we going to do?”

“I think the best thing to do in the short run would be to get our finances in check. Do we even know how much we spend each month?” Mark asked while looking at Kelly. “I know I don’t think about the cost of anything, when I want something I whip out a card and buy it. Not only do I not care how much anything costs most times, I don’t care how much credit I have on the card. It always goes through and gets paid somehow. I’m not sure how much we owe on anything. I know we refinanced a few times, but how much do we actually owe on our house?”

“I don’t know. All of our bills are on auto pay from the bank account and I have never worried about them either. They always seem to be paid and we don’t ever seem to get any overdraft or past due notices,” Kelly said. Kelly thought for a moment and then looked at Mark and said, “You know what? When we set up our bank accounts and all our credit cards we did the online stuff. I bet if we go to each account’s web site all we will need to do is print out a transaction listing, balance due, and anything else we might find. These should help us put together a listing of everything we owe.”

“Hey, that should work. You take the bank accounts and I’ll take the credit cards. We can each go online and try to figure out how we spend our money and how much we owe on everything. Let’s start by creating a pile of credit cards from each of our wallets. Once we get all the credit cards in one pile, bank debit cards in another, we can create a list of most of our accounts.  We can use the list to figure out how much we owe on all of the accounts and how much we spend each month on various items. Once we get the bank accounts printed out, we can look at each one of them. Figuring out any payments we are missing might take some time, but it should be a great place to start.”

Mark and Kelly both got out their wallets and pulled out every bank card and credit card they had between them. They also dug through their desks looking for any information they might have on various bank, credit card, and loan accounts. Kelly remembered she also had a copy of the cards she had given each set of parents so they could buy whatever the girls needed. After a few hours of pulling out paperwork, calling card companies, and going online, they felt as if they had a good handle on all of their accounts. They could begin working through the printouts and downloads. Several times, one of them spotted something they had missed before. They would spend a few minutes tracking the account down to get a list of transactions and balances for the account. Most of the accounts had online reports. A few had to be dug out of Mark’s “I’ll open it and read it later” letter pile. This pile had gotten large since he never seemed to have the time to open or read any of those letters. They worked for several hours and Mark and Kelly had a pile of printouts going back twelve months for each account they might find. What they saw when they were working on gathering the information started to worry them. They worked for the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon trying to get a handle on what they owed and how much they spent each month.

After working through the large pile they created during the day, Mark was able to sum up everything they owed and spent money on each month. “Do you realize even though we make over $300,000 a year, we spend more than we bring in?”

“What do you mean?” Kelly asked with a disbelieving look on her face.

“It seems we spend everything from our paychecks and borrow money for our trips. We borrowed $40,000 alone against the house when we took everyone on the trip to Europe last year. I mean it was fun, but $40,000?”

“Really!”  Kelly exclaimed, “I didn’t think we spent that much. How did we come even close to that?”

“Well, the first class tickets alone took up $15,000. The rest was for the fancy hotels and all the food and wine we drank.”

“What does the rest of it say?”

Mark went on to list their debts, “$90,000 in total credit card debt. $30,000 left on the trip loan. $60,000 for the furniture. $495,000 left on the house. $20,000 on various loans for odds and ends. This means our total debt comes to $695,000 which is basically five years of take-home pay.”

Kelly blinked a few times and looked at Mark, “We still owe $495,000 on the house? We only paid $550,000 for it and that was ten years ago.”

“I know. It’s because of all those times we refinanced to get extra money for trips and junk we probably didn’t even need.”

“Shot ourselves in the foot, didn’t we? I don’t even remember some of those trips because I spent most of them keeping track of work or lying around in the spa. Did everyone else at least have fun?”

“You’re asking me? I spent those trips at the golf course so I could relax away from everyone else. We’d have to ask our parents if the girls had fun. They were the ones taking them around to everything and making sure they were enjoying themselves.”

“What else did you figure out?” Kelly wanted to know.

“Well, we bring home about $13,500 each month after taxes, retirement, insurance, and other misc. Of that, we spend about $3,000 a month on luxuries. Our utilities, home owner’s association dues, and taxes add up to around another $1,500. We spend around another $1,000 on the kid’s activities. We also spend about $1,500 eating out each month. The rest of the money goes to house payment and paying the minimum amount required all those other debts. “

“Any good news?” Kelly asked.

“Surprisingly yes, we both max out our 401Ks each year and with the stock purchase plans at our companies, we have quite a bit of stock in our accounts.”

“So what do you propose? I mean how are we ever going to pay off all those debts when we spend everything we make?”

Mark thought for a minute.  “Since I don’t think Plains will be around in another few years and I think your company will have a hard time making it the next few years as well. Why don’t we sell all of our stocks? I know we meant for those stocks to send the kids to school and for retirement, but it looks like we will be selling them long before that. If we wait any longer they may not be worth anything if the companies start having financial issues. Why not sell them now? “

“What do you mean, ‘Becomes worthless’ if the company goes through a bankruptcy? Your stock wasn’t worthless after the last Plains bankruptcy,” Kelly said.

“That’s because they reorganized. If they had gone out of business, the stocks become worthless.  There is not enough money after the liquidation sale to pay off all debts and give any to the stock holders. Especially if Plains goes out of business because of a fuel shortage and no one wants to buy any of the planes or routes. My stocks would be worthless and I wouldn’t get anything for them even if I could sell them.”

“What about the stock in my company?” Kelly wondered.

“If your company does what I think it will, they will start closing down restaurants which lose money or do not make enough money to risk keeping them open. The first few times they do this the stock may go up in price. After the first round or two of closings, the price of the stock will plummet as investors start to believe the company is going out of business. In the long run, we might both end up with stock that is worthless. I know we spent a lot of money buying it in the first place and may even lose money on it if we sold it today. If we don’t sell it and both companies go out of business, how much would we have in the future versus if we sold it today?”

“And if the economy turns around?” Kelly asked, still not sure if she was ready to commit to this or not.

“Then we use all the money we save after paying off our debts to start over. It’s not like we are too old and can’t start again. In this scenario, we go ahead and pay off everything today. Never allow ourselves to get into this situation again. We should use the extra money to pay for the kids to go to school. We should also have enough to still invest some for retirement. Getting rid of all our debt should allow us to put money in the bank and if we think the economy is starting to recover, we buy stocks back. When the economy is starting to recover, it’s often a great time to reinvest since stocks. But I think we both don’t believe I’m wrong and the economy will start to improve in the next few years. I might be a few years early in selling out, but I doubt I’m completely wrong in my beliefs after the research I have been doing.”

“Yeah, I know. It just goes against my training to believe you. It means I don’t believe in my country anymore and my leaders are either lying to me or they may be clueless. Which bothers me more,” Kelly said with a sad look on her face. “What about our 401ks? Are we closing them down as well?”

“We can, but we will have to pay a big penalty to do that. Not only would we have to pay the maximum tax rate, we also will be slapped with a 10% penalty. I think we can shut them down for certain reasons without paying the penalty, but each one of us would have to lose our jobs or something like that. I think by then it would be too late to even get anything out of them because the stock market would be so bad. I don’t know if we are there yet.”

“So if we sold all stocks outside of our 401ks, what would that give us?” Kelly asked.

“I don’t know. Let me spend the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out a rough number. I think we should go ahead and issue the sell orders and see what we come up with. It shouldn’t take the brokers long to sell the stocks and we should get the final numbers as soon as we put in most of the orders. The sell orders should be completed in a few hours and we can start the transfer of the money to our bank accounts. The taxes will be the big unknown, but I think I can set aside 15% for taxes. That should cover the worst-case tax scenario we made a profit on everything we sold. If taxes are less, it gives us some extra in our accounts to pay bills for a little longer if things go south. The money might even come in handy if I lose my job earlier than expected and need additional money to live on while I find another job. We might even be able to keep most of the money once the final tax paperwork is finished.  We might find out we actually lost money on our stocks and not made profits which would lower the taxes.”

Mark started to bring up each individual stock account he had and issue online orders to sell everything. The orders were still processing when he and Kelly left to get the kids from school. He made a note to check them in the morning and start the process to move the money to the bank accounts. Even though this was important to them, he didn’t want to go back to old habits and ignore Cheyenne and Dakota. Working on their financial problems could easily be done after the girls went to bed or even the next day.

Both Mark and Kelly spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the kids before Mark had to start dinner. He wanted to cook on the grill tonight since he needed to start practicing his cooking before the big Memorial Day party. Mark seasoned the hamburgers and fired up the grill while Kelly made French Fries in the oven. Everyone loved the meal and Mark wondered why they hadn’t done this more often in the past. He thought the taste of the burgers was better than any they had eaten at all those restaurants. After dinner, the kids went upstairs to watch a movie in the media room. Mark and Kelly returned to the laptop to see what had happened from their mass stock sale. Mark looked over the numbers and turned around and said, “Well, we didn’t clear enough to pay off everything. We did clear enough to pay off all the debts besides the house, but we don’t have enough in stocks to tackle the house as well. It looks like if we pay off everything else we would wind up with about $80,000 left. That is nothing to sneeze at, but it is not a total break from our debts because of the house. We can decide if we want to pay down the house payment or put it back in savings to help us out when things do get bad.”

“If we do pay off everything but the house, how much a month would it lower our monthly income needs?” Kelly asked.

“We were only making minimum payments on everything so it only takes us down about $1,500 a month. We would still need to cut out another $5,000 a month or so to get us down to the 50% we agreed on.”

“That’s still a lot. How do we cut out the rest?” Kelly thought to herself before coming up with the answer. “If we cut out almost all the luxury spending we found after going through our bills. Reduce our food budget by eating out less and grilling more great hamburgers. And cut back on some of the kids’ activities, how much would it take out of our monthly income requirements?” Kelly asked.

Mark thought for a few minutes, looked at some of his spreadsheets and responded, “That would about get us there. Do you want to really cut out all the kids’ activities?”

“Not all, but if we spend more time with them, some of the money we were spending to entertain them would go away. I think a few activities should still remain, but not just throwing money at something so they will be busy until we got home. I don’t think either of the girls liked playing basketball last year, nor do they enjoy the piano and violin lessons either. Those are something we wanted them to do and not something they asked to do.”

“True. We should also cut out another $500 if we cut some of our utility bills down. I mean, we have the maximum cable package for every TV we own. How much do we watch TV and how much do we watch it in our room or do the kids watch it in theirs? We should cut those out and reduce the package for the remaining sets in the media room and down in the den. We should also cut out the one in my office since I don’t ever use it. I get my news off the internet.”

“Why don’t we look back at the list we came up with and see what else we can reduce? It wouldn’t be like we would miss most of those things we don’t really use every day.”

Mark and Kelly looked over everything and did find another $500 or so they might cut without affecting their daily lives. They had taken the premium packages on everything because it was easier to order than try to figure out what they needed. Mark noted the lease on his car would soon be up. Instead of leasing another “mid-life crisis sports car”, they should think about using some of the left-over stock money to purchase a solid, family car. That would save them another $500 or so on monthly bills. He knew he would have to replace any car he bought. He hoped he would have time to adjust better by then and go back to lower car payments in the future.

They both got caught up in what they were doing and around midnight, Kelly said, “That wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I thought it we would never be able to reduce our monthly expenses to meet our cutoff.”

“Well, we were lucky,” Mark said.

“How so?” replied Kelly.

“Well, for one thing, we spend a lot of money each month on crap we both thought we needed. We were only doing it so we would look good in front our friends by having that and doing this. Trying to keep up with everyone else was just wasting money on stuff we didn’t really need or use.”

“I can see that,” Kelly said. “Let’s try to make a pact to limit what we spend. If we must buy something, it has to be an absolute necessity. Nothing we think everyone has and we need to have one just to keep up. No more credit card purchases or loans for anything we can do without. I can point the finger solidly at me. $60,000 for new furniture when the old furniture wasn’t that bad? I wanted to buy the new stuff because everyone else thought we should have furniture from some new designer and everyone claimed they had it. To tell you the truth, I really don’t like some of it because it is not really comfortable.”

Mark laughed, “Not only is it not comfortable, some of it looks weird too.”

Kelly smiled. She now knew she was foolish and wasteful when she bought the trendy furniture. She also knew deep down, all she wanted was something comfortable to sit on and relax.

“Another thing which made us lucky,” Mark said referring to a point he made earlier in the conversation, “we actually had a lot of money invested in stocks. Most people don’t have anything outside of their 401ks, if they even have that. Taking advantage of the stock purchase plans and buying stocks on those little tips we’ve gotten over the years has helped us out today. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not happy we dipped into the kids’ college funds. I don’t think those stocks would have been there anyway by the time the kids needed them. That money would have been gone in a few years anyway.”

“What would we have done if we didn’t have those stocks?” Kelly commented.

Mark thought about the question for a minute and started listing off things he came up with. “Well, we might have still reduced our bills by knocking out luxuries. I would have gotten a much cheaper car after my lease ran out. We would have spent less money eating out by either eating at one of your restaurants or cooking more at home. Those dollars would have gone into paying off our debts. Also, we should have used any bonus money and tax refunds to pay down debt instead of spending money on new things. We might have made a big dent in the debt, in a year or two, even without the stock money, if we put our minds to it. I might have even looked into something I could do online to make a few extra dollars. Some of those tech guys make money with web sites. I think I’m smart enough to do anything if I could figure out what to do in the first place.”

“Ok. Explain how you would have started paying off the debts without money in the bank.”

“I would have listed out our debts and ranked them by interest rates, amount owed, monthly payments, and if there were any annual fees. Then I would have started paying of the ones with lower balance but with high monthly payments, high interest rates, or high annual fees. Once some of those were paid off, I would have used what we spent each month on those accounts and any additional money to make my way up the list. It might have taken longer than it will now, but eventually we could have done it.”

“Thought that one out earlier did you?” Kelly chuckled.

“Yeah. I forgot to mention the first thing I would have done was to take all the cards, checks, debit cards and locked them up or shredded them. Just like we will be doing now,” he said with a smile.

Mark looked at Kelly to make sure she understood his suggestion.  “I would have also brought up selling the house and moving to something smaller with a lot less monthly taxes and home owner’s association bills. That alone would have gotten us a long way towards our goal.”

“Why don’t we look into everything tomorrow? It’s almost one o’clock and we still have to get up and take the kids to school tomorrow,” Kelly said as she let out a big yawn.

“I’m with you kid. Do you know we didn’t do our nightly drink tonight?”

“That’s ok,” Kelly replied. “We spent the whole day together and that means more to me than spending a few minutes together slogging down a glass of wine.”

Chapter 8

As Mark lay down to get some sleep, he found sleep would not come.  He ended up spending most of the night tossing and turning as he thought about the last few days. It had been a very emotional week for both of them as they faced something the vast majority of Americans refused to believe. They had confronted the fact the lifestyle everyone was led to believe they desired and was their right as Americans, was coming to an end. Human nature in America was not to be proactive about something and most Americans would not make slow changes over time to adjust to an upcoming situation. Americans lived a “wait until the last minute and get it done” culture. If you made a certain amount of money, you were supposed to live a certain way. People could not understand why someone would voluntarily choose to live below a certain lifestyle if they made enough money to do otherwise. Anything below their expectations would cause them to question what was going on. It didn’t matter if you were trying to live a lifestyle which could be maintained after you retired or not. It also didn’t matter if you did not want large amounts of debts or not. You were supposed to spend your money on this dream lifestyle everyone had in mind. You were also supposed to live on credit so you could spend more and live one or two steps above what you could afford. No one would admit it, but most Americans lived way above their means and that was the way companies wanted things. Thousands of advertisements convinced the gullible public they needed all the useful, entertaining, or latest products purchased with any credit card. Mark couldn’t remember where he heard it, but it was said the most dangerous thing to the American economy was if Americans started living within their means. He didn’t know if it was the most dangerous thing, but he believed it was up there in the top five.

Americans are also not supposed to worry about the future. They’ve gotten to the point they think the government should do all of the worrying for them and take care of them when they could no longer work. After all, isn’t that what we pay taxes for? Mark and Kelly lived day-to-day like everyone else and never gave their future much thought. They believed retirement advisors were on your side and watched out for you. Trusted financial advisors knew what they were talking about and if an investor followed their investment advice, they would be set for future retirement. Mark always joked when someone asked him about his retirement plans and would say, “I thought everyone was supposed to open a vineyard when they retired. That is what all those TV ads tell us to do.” This would cause everyone to laugh, but Mark always believed more than one of them actually had that goal as a retirement plan. It wouldn’t matter if the person scrimped and saved for years or if they made a lot of money. “If they could do it, I can do it” was the attitude of many people Mark and Kelly knew. Not that they spent much time planning something like retirement on a vineyard. It was just supposed to be there. To Mark, Americans have been trained since birth to trust those in power without question. Doctors knew best. Teachers knew best. Politicians had your best interest in mind. You could always trust law enforcement to do what was right. FBI and other federal officers were beyond reproach. People were not supposed to think for themselves, they were supposed to go along with the flow and everything would work out in the long run. Mark realized early in the morning, the only reason they even had money in stocks was because he wanted to buy a boat. He was not planning his retirement.

As Mark lay there, he realized most of what he had been taught to believe in by his parents and grandparents was no longer true in today’s America. Politicians were out for themselves or wanted to get rich from their time in office or amass enough power to give them the illusion they ran the world. Those who ran American government departments would often put the countries best interest aside to grow their own departments and increase their own power base. Often this was because they were not following the wishes of the people nor even the current administration.  They were following their own desires, beliefs, and agendas. Most of this Mark felt he could tolerant since he didn’t see how it affected him day-to-day as politicians have always been egomaniacs. He knew time would catch up with them and they would retire and go away so the next egomaniac could take over.

As he did more research, he became convinced the American people were being lied to by a large variety of what used to be trusted sources. Major media did not often report the whole story and often omitted important news because the news didn’t fit their agendas. Politicians were becoming more radical and polarized and were passing laws they said was for the “people’s benefit” but those benefits never came about. More often than not, the only real beneficiaries to the bills were large corporations or the politician’s political party. Nothing politicians did ever seem to make it down to average people like Mark and Kelly. They were rich enough not to benefit from social programs, but poor enough not to benefit from the large tax breaks and other benefits  wealthy people enjoyed. Like many middle-class Americans they were stuck in the middle and bore the brunt of keeping America afloat without anyone in the government on their side. Liberals bypassed them because they were not poor or minorities. Politicians bypassed them because they were not wealthy enough to have influence or give heavily to their campaigns. This led Mark to believe he and Kelly were like most middle-class Americans in the fact they were a disenfranchised class of Americans who worked for everything they had. They were taken for granted by both sides of the political spectrum and did not have anyone looking out for them. He came to the conclusion he would have to bury decades of training by his parents, his grandparents, teachers, politicians, and the American media. He could not believe anyone would be around for his family in their time of need. As he lay there, he understood he would need to build a system to would allow him to take care of his family without the benefit of any government. He could not count on the government at any level to step in and help him out. In fact, Mark began to think he would have to work out ways to avoid the government in the future. They would become a hindrance more than something he could count on. It bothered Mark he had gone way beyond his normal ways of thinking. He had started to think things would get much worse than he originally thought as his belief in the American government slowly slipped away during the night.

Mark would make up his mind things were going to fall apart and the other part of his brain would kick in. This part of the brain would convince him he was crazy for thinking those thoughts. Was he harming the future of his children by not giving them as much as everyone thought he should? Wouldn’t they get left behind if they didn’t go to private schools and Ivy League colleges? Wouldn’t they get left out of everything if he and Kelly cut their way of life down to what they were planning? He didn’t know and the two sides of his brain continued warring with each other all night long. Mark finally gave up and got out of bed at around five that morning and was surprised Kelly popped right up after him. “Sorry, did I wake you?” Mark asked.

“No, I haven’t been able to sleep all night. Things just keep going round and round in my head.”

“I’ve been up all night as well. I’ve been thinking about what is happening and what we have been planning over the past few days. The family and friends part was easy, but I’m still worried about the financial part. My brain keeps telling me we are not doing enough to protect ourselves for what is going to happen in the future. That part was warring with the part of my brain that still thinks I’m crazy for even believing in half of what I do. I begin to believe things will get much worse than I had thought it would. Then I start believing we are harming the kids’ futures by doing what we are planning. I don’t know if I am starting to believe things now because I was not ready to believe them earlier.  I don’t know if that is the case or if I’m starting to act like some crazy, nut-case. I’ve spent all night wondering if things will fall apart and we will find ourselves living in some kind of third-world nightmare.”

“I know. Same thing here. Let’s get some coffee and try to figure out where we are going.”

After making some coffee and filling their cups, Mark and Kelly walked out to their patio and sat down. “Ok, spill it,” Kelly said.

Mark looked at her and started trying to explain what was going through is head. “I’m pretty sure what we are doing is the right thing to do. I’ve got this nagging voice in the back of my head keeps telling me I’m giving up and my family will be the ones to pay the price. I keep thinking about Cheyenne and Dakota missing out on things as they grow older because we decided to step back from our lives and simplify things.”

“I had the same thoughts all night but then I started thinking that we didn’t have all this stuff when we grew up and we turned out fine.“

“Maybe, but things are different today. We didn’t have a lot of the same stuff back in our youth that’s available to kids today. When we were growing up, you had to be rich because normal people didn’t have the opportunities or money to own the unnecessary items everyone owns today. Credit was not used as much as it is today and because of this, the pressures on kids to have expensive things were not around like they are today. We had pressures, but I don’t remember ever harassing someone because they didn’t have a $200 pair of pants on or carry a $500 phone. People didn’t own the same amount of goods they do today.”

“You mean everyone didn’t OWE as much back then as today. Remember, you convinced me we do not own anything and I bet all those other people are just like us and John Anderson. Nobody owns anything anymore. It’s all an illusion and people are behaving like the government and borrowing so much money today they are going to suffer in the future. Because people our age haven’t started to retire yet, no one has found out they owe too much money to actually retire to the good life. We are the first generation who is going to have to retire on social security, plus our own investments and not a large pension from the company we work for. Retirement age will not be something decided by the company, it will determined by the age you can start pulling your savings out without additional penalties.”

“Ok, Ok. You don’t think we are mistreating Cheyenne and Dakota by downsizing to save money for something that may or may not happen?”

This role reversal was common in the Turner household. Mark often picked up on new ideas and ran with them full steam but quickly lost that steam as he started second guessing himself. Kelly was the opposite. It took her a long time to get started, but once she did, she wouldn’t let it go easy. “No. You said yesterday we were lucky when we were talking about selling the stocks. I think we are lucky in more than those few ways.”

“What do you mean?” Mark asked.

“Well, for one thing, our kids are still young. They are not as spoiled as other kids. I mean, I sit around the spa listening to other mothers complaining about the things their kids do and want. Everyone wants $200 jeans, $500 purses, cell phones which they constantly break or lose and have to be replaced at hundreds of dollars apiece. They even brag about buying their kids cars that cost more than ours. We may be adjusting our kids’ lives down a little. At least we are doing this before they become accustomed to having more than any fifteen year old should ever have. We can thank our parents for that. They basically raised them and kept them grounded. If we had been actually raising them, we would have a couple of spoilt brats. They would drive us crazy about not having the latest smart phone with an unlimited text plan by the time they are ten.”

Mark got into the conversation by adding, “They would also probably be going to a private school somewhere if they were a little older. I know we talked about how the elementary schools were fine for Cheyenne and Dakota now, so we haven’t sent them anywhere else yet. But if they were in middle school or high school they would be in private school. The change from a private school costing tens of thousands of dollars a year to public school would be a big shock. Once again, we can be thankful of where we live as the schools here in Frisco are not really that bad compared to other places.”

“Also,” Kelly took the conversation over, “think about some of the kids’ parties we see being thrown around here. I bet some of those parents are spending thousands of dollars to give a one-year-old a birthday party.”

“I guess you’re right. I am having a little buyer’s remorse about changing things and feeling like we are going ‘backwards’. I have to stop thinking in such a negative way and start thinking that we are just getting back on the track we should have been on all the time.”

“Let’s take the kids to school and then come back and discuss the house and what else we need to do.”

Mark took the kids to school and daycare. Once he came back in the door, he got comfortable with Kelly in the dining room and continued their conversation from earlier in the morning. “Ok.  Let’s pick up where we left off this morning.”

They looked at the final numbers from the stock sales and initiated the process to have all the money in their stock accounts sent to their bank accounts. They wanted the money available on a day-to-day basis. They figured this would take the rest of next week. Until they had the money in the bank they would need to verify the amount they owed each time a bill came in. Mark believed they should set up a bank account to put the 15% he thought would be needed to pay taxes from the sale. He said this should be more than what they would need. Because most of the stocks they were selling at a loss compared to what they paid for them, they would pay less taxes. Any money left over in the account after they paid the tax bill next year would be used for future living. The would be a good foundation for having six months or more of living expenses put away should something happen before they were ready.

The Turners also figured they would stop the automatic payment of bills. They wanted to see the bills each month to track their spending better. Both hoped this would keep them on track and neither would go back to the “spend because we think it’s there” lifestyle they were currently on. What Mark and Kelly did not realize was from now on, they would question every purchase. Every time one of them pulled out a card to pay for something they would question both the purchase and the use of a credit card. As they became aware of the amount of credit card interest being paid each month, they started paying cash for items to reduce interest charges. They also hoped paying with cash and not credit would make them start living according to their budget.

Mark and Kelly both knew it would be extremely hard to keep their enthusiasm up for their new financial way of life over the following months. It would be easy to convince themselves they were being stupid and nothing bad would happen. They both knew they needed ways to keep on track and not fall back into old habits. Kelly reminded Mark of his earlier suggestion about removing all cards from their wallets except for a debit card and one emergency credit card. This would leave them with a way to pay for things they needed and a fallback in case some emergency came up. She thought this would keep them from being tempted to fall back on old habits. Kelly also got Mark to agree to set up two new bank accounts where they would transfer a limited amount of money into each month. One account was for Mark and another for Kelly and each would get to use their “allowance” on a few of the luxuries they were used to.

Over time, the amount put into these accounts would be reduced until they had trained themselves not to spend money because money was available. Living on a budget was something they had never done in their lives. Kelly believed the first time one of their cards was denied because the accounts were empty would help to reinforce this agreement and get them back on track. Mark and Kelly also decided they would also set up an account in a different bank to hold the money they needed to pay off their debts. Mark hoped having the money in a different bank would prevent them from transferring the money to one of their current accounts. He hoped this would slow them down and stop them from spending money on something besides paying off debts. He knew most of the debts could be paid off online.  He wanted to put the only card they had to access the account in the safe to keep the card out of their hands. They both needed to learn to control themselves a little better than they did today. They agreed the money they saved each month through their cut-backs, saved from the reduction in debt payments, and leftover stock money would go into this account. The card would be used for expenses they would need to get ready for their future way of life. Kelly suggested all bonuses and tax refunds should be put into the account as well. Mark came up with the idea they should wrap the card and the checkbook for this account with pictures of the kids. He was hoping this would slow them down if they were tempted to use the money for something besides the original intention.

“Great,” Mark said. “Now what about the 800lb gorilla in the room we have been ignoring?”

“The house,” Kelly frowned.

“Yeah, the house. Should we sell? Should we keep the house and attempt to pay it off? Should we keep it and not pay it off and just continue making payments?”

“What are the pros and cons of each?” Kelly asked.

Mark thought about it for a moment and started listing off the pros of selling the house. “If we look at this from a financial standpoint and not an emotional standpoint, the pros for selling the house are pretty strong. We don’t need something this big. We could make do with something half the size and not notice the size difference. Cutting the size down by half and not having a house on a golf course or in a fancy subdivision would save us 60-70% in mortgage payments or rent. Selling would also cut the utility bills to about half or more of what we pay on this oversized abode. Selling would save us about $1,000 in monthly homeowner’s fees, maintenance, and other upkeep like the pool maintenance. It would force us to move to a more ‘grounded’ neighborhood and we wouldn’t feel the pressure of owning expensive cars or spending thousands of dollars on birthday parties. Another plus is, if we sold now we might be able to sell the thing and break-even or make a profit. If we wait until the market slows down more we might lose money on the sale. Plus, if the economy starts going down even more we might not even be able to sell the house at all. I know we would be losing money if you think about what we paid for it and the money we have put into it. The days of recovering your costs after selling your house are over. If we make enough to pay the fees and the mortgage off, we will come out way ahead of most people.  Many are upside down on their loans and still owe money after they sell.”

“All of your pros sound great to me. Now, what are your cons to selling?” Kelly asked.

“The emotional side of selling our dream house is the biggest con. This is the type of house we always looked at when we drove around while we were in college dreaming of making it big someday. Also, the house is set up perfect for the parties we want to have to acquaint ourselves with family and friends.”

“So the house is a show piece?”

“Yes,” Mark said before he knew he walked into a trap.

“You sure have changed a lot this week,” he told Kelly lovingly.

Kelly smiled and said, “I have. Once you showed me the logic of the error in our ways. My heart flipped and knew something like this house, our cars, or the phony person I had become was not right. I have come around and now believe that as long as I have you, Cheyenne and Dakota, then I am complete.”

Mark smiled and replied, “You are one smart cookie, my love. Then there is no reason not to put the house up for sale, is there? If we can sell it, we move on to something we can always afford or rent something we can afford until we make up our minds about the future.”

“That’s the way I see it. I’ll call a couple of realtors next week and get things started. We can decide on what and where we are going to live once we get an offer on this house.”

“That does it then,” Mark said and started summarizing everything they came up with the last two days. “We have set up a good plan to pay off everything we can. We will sell the house and downsize to a smaller one. We will also start learning to live off what would be half of our current salary. We will also put everything we save, left over from the stock sale into an account to use for the future and not for stupid stuff we don’t need. We will also stop wasting money on car leases and buy something outright we can keep if money becomes tight. We cancel our vacation this year and use the money to prepare for the future. We do one of those ‘staycations’ that everyone talked about a few years ago.”

“I’m a little scared, nervous, and a lot of other things, but I agree,” Kelly said. She looked at Mark with a smile and glanced at the stairs to their bedroom. “How are we going to spend the rest of the day before the girls come home?”

Chapter 9

Once Mark returned to work on Monday and caught up on the massive amounts of emails he had ignored last week. After reading through his emails, he realized no one missed him last week. Most American workers are under the false impression the world would stop if they took their vacations. Mark believed the same until this week. The fact no one missed him might have bothered him before his insight. The nagging thoughts of how much time he gave the company and the price he paid for that time kept entering his head as he worked. Mark did find a few spare minutes and took time to start fulfilling most of the promises made last week. He opened his jump drive and started creating a set of jpegs to use for a screen saver.

To create the pictures, Mark started Microsoft PowerPoint and imported the pictures he had brought with him on a flash drive. The next step was to put a text box on each picture saying, “Remember Your Promises.” He might occasionally need to explain the screen saver to others when they saw them. He told himself, he would just make something up about not forgetting anymore soccer games or something most people see as normal. After copying the pictures to a flash card, he copied a set of them to his laptop. He then set his screen savers to display the pictures and reminders on both his computers. Mark didn’t stop there. He created a series of repeating private meetings in his calendar that would pop up throughout the day with the same meeting topic, “Remember Your Promise.” After doing that, he created blank meetings to fill his time from 5PM to 10PM every weekday. About the time Mark had finished with his computer, Owen stepped in to say hello.

“Remember Your Promises,” Owen said. “What’s that mean?”

“Well, I am going to tell everyone else that I made a promise to stop missing my girls soccer games. I’m going to go out on a limb and tell you the real story since I owe you for filling me in on the fuel shortage issue.”

“What are you talking about?” Owen asked.

“Once you told me about the fuel shortage and how they were planning this IT off-shoring project on top of it, I started doing a little research. I found out we suffered fuel shortages more than once and they were able to hide them with various excuses, both real and manufactured. I also found out we are not the only ones who have cancelled flights due to fuel issues.”

Owen interrupted by asking, “How did you find it out?”

“Some of it was easy with the right internet research. Some can only be found if you now our systems,” Mark smiled.

“My research showed a few holes in our security we may need to button up,” Mark said not believing they should button up the security. He still hoped others would find out what was going on since he felt guilty for not telling them their jobs might be gone in a few years. He had changed in the last few weeks since Owen had told him about the fuel shortage.

“Ok. I’ll forget you told me about the security, if you forget where you found out about the shortage first,” Owen smiled.

“Agreed,” Mark chuckled. “I realize that after the move is complete, I will no longer be safe here. I may be able to last a year or so after the move, but after that period is over they will get wise and will let me go.”

“So, I made a promise to myself I would never let my job come before my family again. You may not want to hear this, but I will no longer work after 5:30 each day. I will also not be working on the weekend on a regular basis as well. I’ve spent twenty years with Plains and I’m a little pissed a big company would treat everyone like this. There are quite a few people out there who have given this company their life.  They are going to be dumped on the curb in less than a year and dumped without much notice. I don’t know if I even want to give them the hope we will try to find another job for them here. I want to try, and if it happens, I want it to be an exception and not something everyone is hoping for. This strategy might hurt us if some of them leave early, but I can’t stop them if I know there will not be anything left after the move.”

Mark gave Owen a cold stare as he continued, “You can fire me for what I’m telling you here, but I want you to remember something. If I get fired and do not get a huge severance package, I’ll let everyone know about the real reason for the move.  I’ll tell everyone in the IT department and in any other departments they’re going to dump as well. I may even splash the real reason to any reporter I can find. Let’s see how the brass fares if the market and government finds out they are lying about the flight cancellations.” At this point Mark was getting angry and releasing his anger on Owen who represented Plains Airlines.

Owen just took the heat from Mark and then held up his hands. “Slow down. Take a breath.”

“Sorry. I was taking everything out on you and you’ve done nothing but warn me and help me out,” said Mark as he made himself cool off some.

“Understandable. So you figured it out? When they told me about the fuel situation, I did some of the same research you have done and figured everything out right before I told you about it. I’ve been trying every way I can to try to give others hints about what was going on without getting attention from the brass and getting fired. So far, you’ve been the only one who has taken my hint seriously enough to do any research to figure out how bad things are getting. I’ve been spending the last few months trying to find out how to extract myself from the company before the brass gets caught. I do not want to go down the drain with them. Sorry for lying to you last month but I also they will boot everyone once the move is complete. I’ve had time to work this out and have started to fast track my ‘retirement’ plans to allow for the loss of this job.”

Mark looked at Owen for a moment and replied, “That was what I did all last week. Kelly is with me on this and we both spent last week trying to figure out a plan to survive after I lose my job. To tell the truth, I figure Plains will have trouble with the fuel shortage and they will cause this company to fold. The fuel shortage will cause everyone to adjust to a new way of life. Higher gas prices will not only affect companies like Plains, it will affect companies like Kelly’s as well. We are trying to figure out plans to live on a lot less money than we do now.”

Owen looked at Mark with a small look of surprise, “So if I use the term TEOTWAWKI, you would know what I mean?”

Mark glanced at Owen and chuckled, “Yes, but I’m not fully there yet.”

Owen gave Mark a serious look and said, “I’ve been there for a few years now. I’ve been prepping for the collapse for about five years and I’m much deeper into this than you seem to be. My plans have gone further than a simple reduction in salary.”

Mark had a puzzled look on his face when he said, “I’d love to talk to you about everything. I’ve been dying to let our coworkers in on my news. I haven’t figured out how to tell them without them either thinking I’m crazy or that I have some nefarious reason for telling them.”

“I understand what you mean. I’ve got to go to another wasted meeting now, but why don’t we get together somewhere else one day and talk.”

“Come over for dinner on Saturday. We can let the kids play in the pool while we talk. They’ll make so much noise they won’t hear anything we say.”

“Fantastic! We can do that. We can get to know one another’s family better.” Owen got up and started to walk towards the door. “Oh, the real reason I came in was to tell you your project plan needs to be done by the first of the month. All the brass are going to a retreat at some place in the hill country and discuss things. We are supposed to tell everyone we are going to conferences. They want us to hide the fact we are having an unscheduled executive retreat that might tip off the media and stockholders.”

“Ok. I’ll get with Kelly and figure out the time and let you know.”

“You leave early, come in late, or work from home, whatever as long as you don’t look like you are slowing down the project. No one will notice,” Owen smiled. “Most of the higher-ups are trying to figure out a way to come out of this with their fortunes intact and they are not paying attention to anything else. Besides, no one is going to bother the only person in this company who has a real clue about how everything works.“

Mark smiled. Owen pointed to Mark’s computer, “If you were to be in the email system and find emails between the brass about their lies, I doubt if anyone would find out. I don’t think there are many people in this company who could figure out anything about the systems without you involved.”

“Later,” Mark laughed.

“Later,” Owen said as he walked out the door.

The rest of the day went by in a blur as Mark worked and rehashed everything Owen had told him during their conversation. He couldn’t wait to get home and tell Kelly everything.

Chapter 10

Keeping with their now usual nightly schedule, Kelly picked up the kids from school and played with them until Mark came home. He spent a few minutes with the kids before heading out to the grill to practice his techniques before the big Memorial Day party. Dinner was finished and both Mark and Kelly played a round of cards with the kids before headed upstairs to watch a movie before bed. The kids settled in with their movie and finally Mark and Kelly were alone so Mark could tell her about his day.

“I wonder what he meant we he said he was in deeper than us,” Kelly said out loud.

“I don’t know, but I guess we will find out on Saturday. I hope you don’t care that I invited him and his family over.”

“Why should I? I feel the same way you do sometimes. I want to shout out to the world to wake up and get ready for the meltdown heading our way. Stop buying crap and save your money. Prepare the best you can for a life of minimum wage jobs and ten thousand other people who want the same job. I get so frustrated thinking about how everyone in charge knows about the upcoming shortage but hid it from us all those years. Where would everyone be today if only we had been told the truth?”

After finishing their discussion, Mark and Kelly went to their separate offices to continue doing their own research on what was going to happen in the next few years. Kelly had developed a habit of trying to keep on top of the economic indicators Mark had taught her. Like Mark, she had developed her own set of alternative web sites she depended on to give her the news she now understood would never be discussed on mainstream sites. Kelly also took some time to go through their mail to see if any bills needed to be handed over to Mark to pay off. She also finished up her research by looking through any bills coming in that day to see if any of the services might be eliminated. She found they were paying for some additional insurance she had forgotten about. She made a note for Mark to give them a call in the morning and cancel the insurance. She didn’t enjoy pushing everything off on Mark, but his office was more secluded than hers. He often had to do all the “day” work as they were calling it. Plus they both knew Mark could get away with more than Kelly because of his already secluded nature.

While Kelly was doing her research, Mark spent time looking at his own set of web sites to keep on top of indicators which had been released during the day. He spent time looking back through their finances for bills needing to be paid off based on any mail or notes Kelly had made for him. He also scanned the bank accounts and credit card accounts for any payments he did not have on his list to follow up on them the next day. He did find another payment for a club they had joined so he made a note to call and cancel the club the next day. After spending tens of thousands of dollars paying off a large chunk of their debts, Mark made notes to set up new bank accounts tomorrow. Before going down for his nightly drink with Kelly, he also made reminders to check in a few days the accounts he had just paid off. He needed to see if there was a zero balance and he could officially close them down. He was already feeling good about their new plan.

Over the rest of the week, Mark took Owen up on his word and worked from home a few days to get his plans moving along faster. During his time at home, Mark made great strides on finishing the project at work and getting it ready for Owen to present to the other executives. He also found time to finish setting up his new bank accounts and transferring money into them. By Thursday, he was able to close out some of the accounts he had paid off earlier in the week. Mark and Kelly celebrated by having their first “shred the credit card” celebration. Overall, the week was well spent with Mark and Kelly making big strides forward on their new financial goals. They were able to tick off numerous items on what they started calling “The Turner Plan for The Future”.

Saturday came around faster than normal and about 4:00 that afternoon the doorbell rang at the Turner’s. Mark and Kelly both walked to the door and opened it to greet their guests for the evenings. “Hi, Owen. Hi, Donna,” said Mark. “This is my wife Kelly and our girls, Cheyenne and Dakota, are running around here somewhere.”

“Hi, Kelly, I’m Owen and this is my wife, Donna. These two are Sera and Lelian.”

After everyone introduced themselves, Mark showed his guest to the living room and invited them to make themselves at home. They deposited the kids with Cheyenne and Dakota, who took them upstairs to show them their rooms.  Mark and Kelly did what most Americans would do after introducing someone new to their house; they gave them the grand tour.  At one point in the tour, Mark and Owen let the girls go on ahead and Owen looked at Mark with a knowing look in his eye. “Not quite excited about showing me your castle as you would have been a few months ago?”

“That obvious, is it? I used to think this place was my dream home. Now all I think about is the money we sunk into it and how we will end up with nothing to show for it. We could have had a smaller place with a larger yard paid off by now instead of wasting the money on this place and its six thousand square feet. Not saying we would have done something productive with all that extra money, but at least we would have had the house paid off if something went wrong.”

“Yeah. We went through the same thing a few years ago. We saw the writing on the wall and started downsizing ourselves before something downsized us by force. Honestly, after the initial adjustment period we haven’t missed all the extra space either. Don’t get me wrong, if we can’t raise our kids to act better than most teenagers do today we might miss all the space,” joked Owen. “I saw the For Sale sign out front. How long has it been up for sale?”

“Three days. We decided we would sell last week hoping we could sell for what we owe on it. It would be nice to get some extra. At this stage in the game, I would like to just be able to sell and pay any fees without owing any extra. I think the days of turning a profit on your home are gone so I’m just hoping we can sell it and get into something else before things go south.”

“Know what you mean. We were lucky to sell before the housing bubble broke and actually did pretty good on the sale.”

“So with all the extra dough, want to buy this one?” Mark laughed.

Owen smiled as both he and Mark finished the tour with Kelly and Donna before heading out to the pool area to enjoy the afternoon. Both the adults and children enjoyed the cool of the pool after suffering through a hot week and splashed around for a few hours before everyone started to get hungry.

“Are you ready to start cooking the steaks and hot dogs?” Kelly asked Mark.

“Yes, you stay here with Donna and the kids and I’ll get them started.”

“I’ll help,” said Owen as both he and Mark left the pool to the girls to start cooking the steaks, hot dogs, and corn on the cob.

“Looks good,” Owen said as he surveyed the food.

“We have been trying to start eating simple foods which are local and not shipped from around the world. Another one of those things I think will change as fuel becomes more expensive,” Mark said. “In the past we would have ordered something and picked it up or would have tried to grill lobster or sword fish. But we now agree food security will be a big part of the future, so we told ourselves we need to start cooking at home more and eating out less. That sounds bad coming from someone whose wife is an executive at a restaurant company. We feel like it was something we needed to do to get used to having less money after the meltdown we think is coming and Plains folds up.” Owen didn’t even blinked when Mark said “when Plains folds” and not “if Plains folds”. All four adults were convinced Plains Airlines was on its last legs and in a few years, it along with many other airlines, would start shutting down their operations.

Over the next few minutes, Mark and Owen cooked steaks, corn, and hot dogs. Kelly and Donna went into the kitchen to finish up the potato salad and green leaf salad. Mark and Kelly were quick to point out they had prepared everything they could from scratch.  This was the only meal they could remember in which something was not bought prepackaged from the store and warmed up or opened and put into another dish for serving. Owen and Donna looked at each other with knowing little smiles each time Mark and Kelly became excited about their home-made meal.

While they were finishing up the cooking, Mark and Kelly talked the whole time about what they knew was going to happen to the American economy. They discussed how they were planning on overcoming the probable loss of income and how they felt about having to do what they knew was necessary. Both Mark and Kelly had a lot to get off their chests and Owen and Donna were excellent listeners. They knew it was difficult to do something major like what Mark and Kelly were doing without being able to relieve the stress by talking to others.  Eventually, the food was ready.  Kelly and Donna corralled the kids out of the pool and told them to dry off and wash their hands.  The guys set up the table and got the salads and other items out of the kitchen. As they sat down to eat, Mark looked at Owen.  “We are not really religious here, but I feel like you are. If you would like to say prayers, don’t let us stop you.”

Owen and Donna both smiled at him and the Miller family held hands and said a quick prayer while the Turners sat there and watched. Both Mark and Kelly wondered if they were missing anything in their life by not doing the same thing. They often felt like they lost something when they stopped going to church in their early teens, but had never said anything to anyone about their feelings. After the prayer was finished, Donna commented on how everything looked great and she couldn’t wait to tear into it.

“We did something this morning we have not done before,” Kelly replied. “We went to a local farmers’ market and bought everything for the meal today, including the meat. The steaks and the hot dogs came from a local rancher and the various veggies and fruit for the cobbler came from small farmers. We had to buy some stuff from the store, but overall we were surprised at what we found at the farmers’ market and the quantity and quality we found there. I had always thought farmers’ markets were a few people selling out of the back of their pickups for prices higher than the supermarket. I’ve even seen so-called ‘local farmers’ selling avocados and bananas out of their stalls like they were able to grow them locally.”

“Things have changed over the years,” Owen replied. “Farmers’ markets used to be a few people selling a few items or they were scams in which vendors claimed they grew the stuff, but bought it like everyone else. Now you can see small farmers who are trying to make a living from their farms.  The food is often required to be grown locally and is usually grown under better conditions than the products at the store. Since the government and big agriculture has taken over the organic label, most of the items at the farmers’ market may not be labeled organic. But it may actually be healthier for you than the organic sold by chain stores, because most small farmers usually practice better organic methods when they grow their products.”

“How’s that?” asked Mark between bites of steak.

“Well, the government has gotten together with big business and they have started to water down the organic label. More and more chemicals are allowed to be used and still keep the organic labeling. Over the past few years being organic has morphed.  It used to mean something before the government and big business got involved. Today something labeled with an organic label may still contain large amounts of chemicals. The government has let big business weaken the label by saying certain chemicals are ok, even in organic food. They took a label that meant something and turned it into another ‘truth-stretching’ marketing label. Buying produce from the small farmers at the farmers’ market is usually better since those farmers are always proud of what they grow. Most of them will spend the time to discuss what chemicals they use, how they use them, and other methods they use while growing the most natural food they can. Many of them will allow you to visit their farms and look at what they are doing if you asked them and see them often enough. You can sometimes arrange to pick-your-own at many of the farms and save money by buying items you need a lot of in bulk. I volunteered at a local farm a few years ago and learned how to garden and we ate for free that summer. I came home each night with enough spare veggies, fruits, eggs, and even milk. We didn’t buy anything all summer long. Because we were able to get large amounts of produce at one time, we have learned how to save the produce for winter by canning and storing it.”

“Really,” said Mark. “I never took you for a ‘dirt under your fingernails’ type person.”

“You would be surprised,” Donna replied. “He stays dirty most of the time and I can never get his clothes clean. I wonder sometimes if he will forget to change clothes one morning and show up at work in dirty jeans and a stained shirt with manure on his boots.”

“Wait until you take a bite out of the things you bought,” said Owen. “It will be hard going back to the food from Tex-Mart, because you will taste the difference between local fresh grown food and the plastic food they sell.”

“Are you a foodie?” Kelly asked.

“Not really, but I am turning into one,” said Owen. “We decided a few years ago to either grow it ourselves or buy it from local sources when we can. We can’t grow everything or buy everything local, but we do manage to get about 80% of what we eat either through our own hands or someone we know. We are trying hard to improve that figure every year and now have started to raise our own meat animals as well.”

“You live on a farm?” Mark asked. “I thought you lived in Celina, but I never knew you had a farm.”

“Well,” Donna answered, “we do live in Celina on a few acres, but we have a small farm out of the city. We do grow a small garden in Celina and keep a few chickens and rabbits there, but the main garden is on our other farm.”

Donna and Owen were relieved when Mark and Kelly thought their land was outside of Celina and didn’t bother to tell them where their main farm was located. They were not ready yet to discuss their retreat. Owen thought they would eventually bring it up with the Turners, but did not want to do it today. Mark interrupted his thoughts and said, “Wow. I never knew that. I knew you bought your lunch most of the time to work and you would only eat something else when it was provided during a meeting. I never knew you grew everything you brought to work. And you’re right, this tastes like the food I had when I was growing up.”

“Were you were raised on a farm?” Donna turned the question back around to Mark.

“No, but each summer I would be packed up and shipped off to my grandparents who lived on a small farm in Oklahoma. They didn’t believe in buying their food when they had land available so they grew about everything they ate. If they couldn’t grow it, they didn’t eat it. I don’t think they went to the store more than once or twice a year. I didn’t realize it at the time, but all the junk food they had when I stayed with them was only because I came over. I never saw them eat any of it and seriously doubt that they ate any of it when I wasn’t there.”

“We go through the same problem,” Donna said. “No offense, Kelly, but we have a hard time eating out anymore because we are used to home-grown meals.”

“No offense taken. I wish we could source this food for our restaurants. The truth be told, I sometimes miss the summers of my youth as well. I don’t know if Mark has ever told you but we both spent our summers not more than thirty miles from each other. I grew up north of here in Gainesville and Mark grew up down the road from me in Pilot Point. Both of our grandparents had small farms near Madill, Oklahoma.  We have been next door to each other our entire lives but didn’t know it until we met at North Texas. While we don’t remember it, we did run across each other at Madill’s city pool each summer. My grandparents used to take me there during the hottest part of the day when they didn’t feel like working in the garden or fields. Mark spent a lot of time at the pool with his cousins when he visited his grandparents during the summer.”

“How did you get into raising your own food?” Mark asked.

“When we went through the same thing you are going through now,” replied Owen. “We decided we wanted a more secure source of food and we wanted food that was not full of chemicals. We looked into CSAs and other things, but decided we had enough space so we would start our own garden and learn to eat the food we grew. From there we decided that the city would not be safe enough during an extended crisis. We bought a small farm and started growing larger amounts of food on it until we are where we are today.”

“That must have taken a lot of work,” Kelly said. “I remember working in the garden with my grandmother and the work never seemed to stop.”

“It was a lot of work at first. We experimented and learned a few ways to make things easier on us that our parents and grandparents didn’t know about. For one thing, I didn’t start out by tilling up a portion of my yard and planning seeds in long rows with space between them. During my research I always thought this was a waste of space because I wasn’t going to drive a tractor into my garden. Most of that spacing is to accommodate tractor wheels or horse drawn equipment and only provided space for weeds to grow in.“

“What did you do?” Mark interrupted.

“What I did was to start with raised beds. I built about sixty of them over the winter months. After completing the beds, I went to a large compost company nearby and bought enough compost to fill all the beds. I did mix the compost with some additional minerals and a little peat moss to fluff things up to hold water better. I did not use any dirt I dug up around the garden. This gave me a start to our gardening in with very little weed seeds in my dirt. Because most of the soil around here is poor or full of chemicals, using this dirt gave me a start with fresh fertile soil.“

Mark started visualizing the process as Owen continued, “We did pretty well the first year. We ended up growing a lot of great food and had to spend hours learning how to store it through various methods so we would have food during the winter. The first year we canned, dried, and froze enough to replace a majority of the food we had been buying at the store. Don’t get me wrong. We made a lot of mistakes during the first year and are still learning what to do to keep the harvest large enough to feed us all year-long. It takes years of gardening to learn how to handle the weather, insects, and other things around here. It has even taken me a few years to figure out how many plants to plant each year. I found out it doesn’t take many jalapeno plants to get my quota,” he laughed. “The first year I had jalapenos coming out of my ears. We also found out the old saying is true that the only reason country people lock their car doors in the summer is they are afraid someone will fill them with squash and zucchini. We had mounds of the stuff and couldn’t even come close to eating it all or giving it away. Ever ate zucchini bread every day for two months straight? Donna put zucchini in everything we ate that summer. Jalapeno, zucchini, and squash casserole takes some getting used to,” Owen said as he started laughing.

Everyone started laughing and after the laughter died down, Owen continued. “After the first year was done, I did a few other things to keep the health of my soil up. After the finishing the harvest I covered the beds with plastic to keep the soil from being compacted during the winter and to help keep weed seeds out. Right before we planted again I went to each bed and scooped up the top six inches of soil. I mixed aged horse and chicken manure, fresh rabbit manure, worm castings, and new compost into the soil I dug out. This was used to replace the soil in the beds so each bed would be ready for the next round of crops. Healthy soil goes a long way in overcoming insects and the weather problems we have around here. If you have loose soil with a little peat moss in it will hold water better than if you just tried to plant something in the ground. It takes a little time to do this each spring, but it pays off in the long run with larger harvests and healthier plants.”

“Most people don’t realize to have a healthy garden it is all about the soil. Many think you can dig up your yard, plant a few seeds and wait for tons of food to grow. You might get lucky and have it work one year, but most of the soil around here is poor and it will not take long to completely play it out. Plus with all the chemicals we put on our yards and land, it takes years before you have food that is chemical free and truly organic.”

“Do you still buy all the compost you use?” Kelly wondered.

“No, over time I have built my compost heaps and have created worm beds in a shed to use for replacement soil. We have also started raising rabbits and chickens for both food and to use their manure for our soil. I still get some horse manure from a local stable and buy some mineral supplements from local gardening stores. Except for the few minerals we add to keep the health up and balance the PH levels, all the rest does come from our own farm. We are trying to be as self-sufficient as possible in case things go as bad as we think they will.”

“We’ve learned a lot over the last few years raising our own food. One of the things we have learned is that you have to make sure you eat what you raise. Our diet has changed as well over time to accommodate the food we can grow. We’ve had to build up a collection of recipes that work with food as it comes into season. People do not realize many of the items in a salad may not be available at the same time of the year. What we consider a salad is not natural here in Texas. It is just too hot to grow lettuce for more than a few months in early spring and fall. You may never have lettuce and tomatoes available at the same time from local gardens.  Many people don’t realize that when they go to the store and put together a great salad. We’ve learned to adjust our diet based on what we are harvesting and what we have stored from last year. Not what is normally available in a store,” Donna continued the conversation.

“Most people complain about all the work it takes making a Thanksgiving meal. Try making one that requires you to plan a year in advance so you will have the right things put away and stored for the meal. I start my preparations each year right after Christmas. We will have a turkey ready, fruit for pies, grain for bread, and all the other things you eat during a typical Thanksgiving Day meal. One of the concessions I do make is I still buy cranberries at the store. I’m trying to figure out other things for the meal instead of what is considered typical but I would miss cranberry sauce.”

“You have your own fruit trees?” Mark asked.

“We’re starting to get our own fruit now as well,” replied Owen. “Even with the dwarf stock, it takes a few years to get good crops and enough of them to have more than a few pieces apiece. Those were one of the things we usually picked at local farms until ours started coming in. We even travelled some to be able to pick crops from farms that are not nearby. Nice apple farm in Missouri we went to over a weekend last year and picked enough to put away for the year. We are still having a hard time with apples, so we still go to Missouri for them. They just don’t seem to do well around here. We have started substituting other fruit for apples in our diet, but will go to Missouri for as long as possible. I still love apple butter with my breakfast and crave apple pie as well.”

“As we said earlier, we also are just now starting to raise all of our own meat,” Donna said. “We started with the basic chickens for eggs and added rabbits later. It took a little time to work up to think bunnies were food and not pets. I cried the first time we slaughtered them, but have gotten somewhat used to it over the years. I still do not cook rabbit often and would rather sell them than eat them. But it is something we have to get used to since they are easy to raise organically and can produce a lot of meat with little effort. After rabbits, we went on to start a larger flock of chickens for food and added turkeys and ducks for extra meat and a few more eggs. A few years ago we brought in some goats for both meat and milk. We both had to learn to eat goat, but found out we like goat’s milk better than cow milk. Plus the fact goats are much easier to raise than cows. Goats will eat weeds growing around here. This limits the amount of hay we need to grow and feed we buy. We may still get a milk cow or two and try to learn to use their milk for cheese. Goat cheese is fine, but it is not the same as the cheese we grew up eating. We do have meat cattle and last year we butchered one of our own cows for meat. I am also looking into raising some sheep and even fish for variety, but haven’t started those projects yet. Overall, it has been a journey, but today we have a wide variety of food we grow, raise, or hunt. So much we have been able to move beyond the simple stuff most people associate with small farmers to producing gourmet meals rivaling fancy restaurants. It takes more work to do this, but we are looking into ways and products most people would miss, but we may be able raise locally. We think we can use these items for money or barter if things really go bad.”

Mark looked at Owen and Donna and asked, “So we’ve told you about our past, but we haven’t given you a chance to tell us anything about yourselves. Did you grow up near Madill?”

“Why do you ask?” Owen asked.

“I saw the little glance between you two when Kelly mentioned Madill.”

“No. I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit and Donna grew up in Lansing. We came here after meeting at Michigan State because the job market was better here than in Michigan. Farming, gardening, and animals were a complete mystery to us until about five or six years ago.”

“I would have never guessed it. You seem like you have been here a long time and have always been into the natural way of living you’ve been talking about.”

Owen went on to tell them about growing up as the son and grandson of auto workers. He told them how his entire family was devastated by the collapse of the Michigan auto industry. He told them he grew up poor and how he managed to get into college because of a baseball scholarship. Unlike most athletes with scholarships, Owen never had faith in his pro chances. He didn’t want to end up like his parents, grandparents, uncles, older cousins and everyone else in his town that lost jobs in factories after the collapse. He decided to major in computer science to avoid their fate. He guessed at the time the computer industry would explode in the next decade and computers would be something which would always be around and necessary in the future.

“Makes sense,” said Mark. “What about you, Donna?”

“I always wanted to help others, so I majored in nursing and worked as a nurse until I had Lelian. I became a stay at home mother after she was born. I only work a few nights a week at the hospital to keep my certifications current and keep my skills from getting rusty. I thought after I had Lelian, I would go back to work after the kids started to school to give me something to do, but have not yet.”

“Thought at the time?” Mark enquired. “That with Owen’s comment that you were ‘deeper’ into your preparations than we are makes me believe there is more of the story than you’ve told us.”

Owen looked at Donna and while smiling said, “Told you he would catch on.”

“Ok,” Owen said. “I think you two probably feel somewhat like we do, so I’ll fill you in on some of the rest of the story.”

Mark and Kelly looked at each other and got comfortable for what they assumed would be a good story. “About seven years ago, right after Sera was born; I took a good look at my lifestyle. We were living a lifestyle similar to the way you two are living now. I had made quite a bit of money during my consulting days and when I acted as CIO at a few small dot-coms during the dot-com craze. I was lucky enough I was able to cash out of those companies when they were bought out by larger companies instead of folding up like so many others. I thought we had it all, money, credit, stocks, retirement accounts, a nice home in Las Colinas on the golf course. My only concern at the time was about how much better the future would be for my kids than what I had growing up in the blue-collar ghetto I did. It wasn’t until my dad died a few weeks after Sera was born I started to change. I spent a few weeks up in Michigan cleaning out his house and in doing so found old records he had kept. There were decades of financial records, bills, and receipts from both him and his father stored in his house. I knew he had a habit of keeping everything, but never knew how much stuff he crammed into the house. It had been years since we had last seen him. Because of the problems he had while I was growing up we never had a great relationship. By the time I was born we were poor and he drank a lot after getting off of his shift as a security guard. I was never close to him because of it and didn’t keep in touch after leaving for college. I was one of those idiots who thought they were better than everyone else from their home town and never wanted to go back to that place after leaving it.”

“Sounds familiar,” Mark said as he looked at Kelly.

Owen went on after taking a drink of wine, “Most people would have thrown all those records out as junk.  Something inside of me stopped me from doing that. At the time, I didn’t believe in guardian angels. Now I wonder if mine was talking into my ear and telling me I needed to save those for some reason I would not understand until later. I still can’t believe that I actually boxed them up and carted them back home. I am so glad I did after I started looking through those records over the next few months.”

Owen went on to tell them he read every scrap of paper he had boxed up from his dad’s place. What they showed him was both his dad and his granddad led lives similar to his own. The pay and benefits they received while in the heyday of U.S. automobile industry gave them money to buy what were considered nice homes at the time. They had good cars and boats to go out on the lakes when they took their vacations. He found out at one time all of his family members had vacation cabins in the same small town on Lake Michigan. They spent two weeks each summer vacationing together. The wages they earned at the auto plants allowed them to have about everything average people at the time associated with being well-off.

Owen continued by saying, “On day I was feeling full of myself because I had scored a big promotion which put me in the same department as Damian. I knew Damian was an up-and-comer and would someday be offered the CIO position at a large company.  All I had to do was position myself so he would take me along with him when he got another job. That was about six years ago, which was about four years before he became the CIO at Plains Airlines.”

Mark and Kelly glanced at each other and waited for Owen to finish.

“About six years ago I was coming home feeling good about my new promotion. As I was driving through the gate to get to our subdivision it hit me. I had everything my dad and granddad had and they lost it all when the auto industry in America went bust. It wasn’t anything they did nor was it anything they could have controlled, but it affected them just the same. The American auto industry wasn’t prepared for the gas shortages in the 70’s. Americans decided they liked to buy the smaller foreign-made cars instead of the large gas guzzling American made cars. Granddad managed to retire before everything fell apart, but he lost his union pension when the plant he worked at shut down and the small company went out of business. Most people don’t believe they can lose their pensions and Granddad was one of them. He never saved or prepared for any life without his pension. Granny never worked, so after the pension was gone, they only had his social security to live on. In the end, they lost everything and ended up living in a small, dirty apartment on what little social security paid him. They went from a high flyer lifestyle to a retirement of sitting on a couch all day watching TV because they couldn’t afford to do anything else. He couldn’t get over thinking about all the things he had waited to do when he retired, he would never be able to afford again. I think the disappointment and stress took years off of his life and he ended up dying at a young age. He never moved on after losing his pension and became somewhat of a bitter man at the end and separated himself from the rest of the family. I only saw him once or twice before he died. My ancestors went from a family who spent two weeks together every summer to one never talking to each other, except on major holidays and at funerals. My dad and mom took it even worse.  I never knew the lifestyle my dad and mom had when they were younger, because by the time I was born things had turned south. Dad started drinking right after the plants closed down and mom had to go to work to help support us. They never recovered financially from the closures, because of dad’s drinking and the fact they wouldn’t move from the area where they grew up.  They stayed in the same place even when there were no jobs paying more than minimum wage. They spent the rest of their lives as minimum wage workers and over time lost everything just like my grandparents.“

“When I realized how my family members lost everything because of an unforeseen change in the financial situation in America, I was only a few blocks from home. I almost crashed twice as the full realization hit me how the whole thing was fragile. We work for others who could fire us at any time. We work at companies in which there is no guarantee they won’t shut the doors because of a recession or because they want to move operations to somewhere cheaper. Our whole financial lives are unpredictable and out of most people’s immediate control. While we say we own a house or own our cars, we don’t. Try missing your house payment or car payment for a few months in a row and see how much you own them. In our old neighborhood, try missing your home owner’s association fees and wait to find out what they can do to you in the court system. Try missing property taxes and see how much you own your house. The whole thing is on thin ice and most people don’t realize it. There are no guarantees in life. I am not saying everyone should sit on the beach and play bongos all day long instead of working and trying to better themselves. I think we should be more careful on how we go about living our lives. This credit society which has built up over the last few decades is dangerous to most of us. I now believe we should keep ourselves in check and buy only what we can afford to pay for in cash. Yes, use a credit card so you don’t have to carry wads of cash around, but be able to fully pay it off at the end of the month.”

“The credit industry wouldn’t like that much, would they?” Mark interrupted. “They need those balances to be carried forward to keep their profits up.”

“I know.  Some of the things going on today are because we let them grow over time. When was it written everyone needed a house with imported marble countertops? When was it written we needed to buy a car with all those gadgets in it? If you think about it, most of us only spend 5-10 hours a week in our cars. We don’t need all those things we only use once or twice a year like heated seats or heated mirrors. Many of us could get by with a simple car we can drive back and forth to work and go to the store in once in a while. Something simple enough so when it broke you could crack open the hood and fix it yourself. A car that does not need a computer system and an advanced engineering degree to work on if it goes haywire. Why is it we think we need cars so complex when we only use them about an hour a day? Auto makers with great marketing have been able to convince us otherwise over the decades.”

Mark reddened as he thought about his own car.  He only used it about forty minutes a day to get back and forth to work and only about one hour to drive to the golf course on Saturday. Now that he wasn’t playing golf anymore, he figured he was paying close to $40 an hour for the use of his car. He was paying even more now since he worked from home a few days a week. He never worked out the true cost of his lease. He bet over time, he had spent anywhere from $40 to $60 an hour in lease fees every time he used his car.

Owen looked at Mark and Kelly and said, “I know you understand what I mean. Based on what you‘ve said here today and what Mark has told me in the past, this is where you are today. You’ve figured this out and have started taking steps to prevent the worst from happening by living at a modest level. You’ve told yourself you would like to own most of your possessions. You are tired of making a payment each month for something you think you owe. You realize there is a chance of having it taken away from you because you missed a payment or two. You realized you could pay on something for years and only owe a small amount on it and still lose it because of a few bad months.”

“You’re right. That is exactly where we are today,” replied Kelly. “We are at the point we do not want to wind up like a friend of ours if we were to lose one or both of our jobs.”

“When I started on my new path, I was like Mark. I didn’t want to say anything to Donna about what I was thinking of doing without some further research. I spent three months looking things over. In time, I not only convinced myself losing my job was always a possibility, given the way the world was intertwined, it was possible.  A collapse somewhere in the world could spread to everywhere else. I could easily be like my parents and grandparents and lose everything over something of which I didn’t even have control.”

Owen looked at Kelly and Mark, “Unlike what you’ve told me about your beliefs, I did not just stop with the belief I needed to live within my means. I convinced myself the whole global situation was fragile and we could all wake up one day and find society had collapsed. I believe now there will soon be a deep depression which will take decades to end. The world will find itself once again living like we did in the 1800’s, but with less knowledge of how to do it. I am not optimistic about the future of America over the next decade. When I came to that conclusion, I took Donna aside and explained to her what I now fully believe in. It surprised me to find out she had always worried about the way we lived. She didn’t want to say anything for fear of me accusing her of ‘trying to hold me back’. Just like the two of you, we started doing more research to firm up our understanding and to convince ourselves of the horrible truth of it all. It didn’t take long before we both decided we needed to dramatically change our lives.”

Kelly suggested a break so they could refresh their drinks, stretch their legs, and let the kids back in the pool. Afterwards, they sat back down and Owen continued where he had left off. “We started out doing the same things you two are doing today. Selling stocks to pay off our debts, selling our house so we could downsize, and cutting out all luxuries we could find. The difference is we went a few steps further. We decided we didn’t want our retirement in the hands of others, so we closed down our 401ks. We took a big hit with the taxes and penalties, but as it turned out we sold the stocks right before the major market downturn wiped out most people’s retirement. We got lucky and came out ahead on that one. We also decided we would not trust the government to take care of us if anything went wrong. This did not stop at the simple belief social security would not be around by the time we retired.  We did a ‘what if’ exercise and looked at New Orleans and Katrina. We asked ourselves what the outcome would have been if the storm had hit Miami and ran up the east coast and wiped out multiple cities. The government failed miserably in New Orleans and anyone caught up in our scenario would have never received any help from the government for a long time. This exercise turned us into what is now commonly called ‘preppers’. We would only rely on ourselves in the future if something went wrong. If the government was there we would take what help we could, but we would not be herded around and give up our freedom in order to receive their handouts. We started planning on how to survive what we are now calling ‘The Great Depression’. “

“I see now what you meant when you told us you are in ‘deeper’ than us. We have only started to wonder how to protect ourselves for a short time against job loss or reductions in salary. I haven’t even begun to consider what we would do for an extended period of time or if disaster struck cutting us off from everyone else. What all did you do?” Mark wondered aloud.

“Well, we looked around and decided there were several scenarios in which we would start prepping for. The first was the economic collapse you two are prepping for, but ours went a little further. We told ourselves there wouldn’t be any jobs to speak of for five or ten years after the collapse. When things started coming back, we would only earn a fraction of what we do now if we could even get jobs. Think about how you would have to live if you only made a few hundred dollars a month. Think about what you would do if you were fifty years old and the only jobs available were manual labor jobs you couldn’t do because of your age. This made us plan for ten years of survival with another decade of very low income. Most of that income would come from bartering or black market trades and not from any jobs which might be available. “

“How did you plan all of that? Just thinking about it would cause some of us to give up.” Kelly interrupted.

“We gamed it out. The boundaries of the game were the economy had collapsed and there were no jobs in our area. Any jobs would be left would be with the government or small self-owned business and would not be available to the average person. These jobs would either be impossible to get or you had to have them before things went bad, so we couldn’t count on getting one of them.  Another boundary at the time we started the gaming scenarios was the government would still survive, but in a smaller manner. They would provide some services, like a few food lines once in a while or some law enforcement, but it wouldn’t be the same as it is today. The few police would hole up in their stations and only go out when called. They might not even provide protection for private property and only protect government buildings or businesses paying subscription fees. They would only be there to provide protection for government functions or try to prevent massive amounts of crime, like riots. We decided everyone would be on their own and would need to learn to protect themselves and their property as best as they could. We didn’t game out massive armies of bike riding outlaws invading entire towns. Just small groups of local idiots and scumbags who would take advantage of no police protection to do what they wanted. We believe things could get to be extremely violent over time and if some scumbag came after you, it would be your life or theirs. Such lowlifes would just kill you to get you out of the way. They would try to sneak around you to rob you or hold you prisoner during the robbery and let you go later. The only time anyone would survive is if you were needed to use as a virtual slave to keep growing food or provide other services for them. If you know what I mean?” said Owen as he looked at Donna and Kelly.

This startled Kelly and Mark a bit. They both thought crime would get worse. They had never gone as far as to think lives would be lost on a large-scale or criminals would become so violent. They were too used to living in a modern world to think about what might happen if criminals were allowed to roam free. They never thought about how violent criminals would get if most of their victims never learned to fend for themselves and no one else was around to protect them. Owen gave them a little time to consider what he had said.  “Given these boundaries, we knew food, water, and electricity would be hard to get with from whatever was left of government. We also realized we would not be able to pay mortgage, loan payments, and most utility bills during those times. We might get lucky and the companies we had paid these things to would go out of business. With our luck our mortgage company would survive and still try to collect a monthly mortgage even with the economy in shambles. So in order to survive these types of scenarios, we told ourselves we needed to move into a small house in the country we had paid for in cash. We would also need to start paying for everything else in cash so we would not have any bills and loans which might be due after the crash. We didn’t want any outstanding balances causing any problems with repossessions or bill collectors. No telling what they would do if the police and government weren’t available to keep them in check. Would they try to take your house because you owned a few hundred dollars on a car you could no longer drive? We no longer counted on the goodness of humans if things went as bad as we thought they would. After coming to this conclusion, we gave up all credit cards and debts.  We haven’t used a credit card in years since we figure if we couldn’t pay cash for something, we didn’t need it. Buying a small house out in the county meant we don’t have home owner’s association fees and the taxes are way less than houses in the city. It also meant we would have space for a small garden and chickens which would mean a lot for our food supply issues.”

“A lot of arm-chair preppers think they can store up tons of wheat, dry milk, beans, MREs and other things that do not go bad and hold out. At first we thought the same thing. Once we started rotating it into our daily meals, we found out trying to survive for five years off of the stuff would be horrible. We are not foodies, but we realized we would go crazy eating wheat berries and beans day after day. We were also different than most preppers in realizing we couldn’t plant some seeds into the ground and be able to supply all our food for a year. I’m not crazy enough to think it would be easy to grow a garden without a lot of knowledge, experimenting and hard work. Having the space for a garden before the meltdown, meant we could build up our knowledge. As we talked about earlier, setting up the garden years before we actually need it allows us to make the mistakes everyone will make without going hungry for it.“

“I remember it from my summers at my grandparents. Granny would always tell us to eat everything while it was fresh and it wouldn’t taste the same after being in the freezer for a few months. I also remember going out there for Christmas and most of the food she fed us came out of those canning jars. It still tasted great. At the time, I never realized they were the ones who canned all those jars of food and did not buy them at the store like we did. Their pantry was always full of mouth-watering food no matter what time of year we went there. They must have worked their butts off to grow and put all that away.”

“Tell me about it,” Donna laughed as she referred to the amount of work she was doing putting this year’s garden away. “I mean, we buy some items such as spices, but most of everything else we grow or buy from other local farmers and ranchers. We usually buy a whole side of beef at a time and go out to the ranch to help slaughter and butcher it. Same thing with the pig we buy each year. Now we are raising them ourselves and have learned how to butcher our own animals.”

“You butcher your own cows?” Kelly remarked.

“When the time comes, there is not going to be anyone else around to do it for us. Besides, this allows us to see the cow and processing. We then know we have the freshest food we can get. And it allows us to make sure the living conditions of the cow or pig was humane. No cows from feedlots and no pigs raised indoors in tiny concrete pens. We feel like this is the least we can ask of the animals that we eat.”

“I’ve never thought of it like that, but I see your point. Makes you closer to your food in a sort of spiritual way doesn’t it?”

Owen and Donna just looked at each other and agreed before Owen starting talking again. “Doing what we do, allows us to know the chances are good we can feed ourselves.  We also should have enough left over from our garden to feed a few others as well. I mean, it doesn’t take much more work to grow enough vegetables, fruit, and eggs to supplement a few of our older neighbor’s meals. I would do the same for either one of our parents if they were still alive. I plan on doing the same for my kids once they grow up and if they decide to not live like we do.”

“Do you process all the extra food you give away?” Mark asked.

“No, we just take the fresh stuff over to them a few days a week and what they do with it is up to them. Once in a while one of our neighbors, Martha, will come over and help us put up some things she wants to have over the winter. It doesn’t take much extra work to put away a few extra quarts of beets or pickles for her.”

Mark got up and went to get another bottle of wine while Kelly and Donna made the kids get out of the pool, dry off, and go watch a movie.  Once everyone was back in place, Owen continued with his story. “Going back to what I was saying earlier. We started paying cash for our major items and figured out our food supply. We then started stocking up on things we would need to tide us over for a five to ten year period of troubled times. I also figured even after the depression ended; it would take another ten years or so before life might return to what we think of as normal. America might lose two or three decades before we live even close to the way we do now. You read a lot about how you should stock up on gold and silver from the various sources discussing prepping for disasters. While I did stock up with some gold and silver, I never figured anyone would care about gold or silver bars if things got bad. I also figured all those silver dimes all the preppers talked about would be worthless as no one would care if they were mostly silver. They would just see a dime and nothing else. I spent my money on coins and bars labeled pure gold or silver and hope they will be handy if I need something big. I might be able to buy a horse or gun with some gold. I do not think most people would care enough about gold or silver to trade me for something else. Most people would want something they could use right then and there to feed or help their family. They would not care about precious metals which only mean something when people have money. There is also the problem of how to resupply ourselves when things ran out or break. I figure it would be better to buy things you could barter with or we could use ourselves instead of spending money on gold or silver. I always say that a chicken laying eggs will be worth more than a diamond ring when you haven’t eaten if a few days.”

Owen took a sip of wine and continued, “Think about all the stuff you use on a daily basis. What would you do if you broke a shoe lace? You would just put on a different pair of shoes or take the shoe lace off another pair until you could buy replacements. What would you do if you did not have a store because it went out of business or if you did not have money to pay for those laces? These are the type of questions we started asking ourselves every time we bought something. Over time, we came up with a list of supplies to resupply ourselves or use to barter with others. We started looking at things we needed and used every day most people do not keep lying around.  Garden supplies, canning equipment, small hunting rifles and ammo, etc., things we think would be needed if everyone was trying to survive a prolong crisis without government help. I remember reading in a book about John Adams when he went to Philadelphia to start the revolution, his wife asked him to buy a whole bunch of sewing needles. It seemed she remembered it was difficult to get replacement sewing needles during the last war and she wanted to stock up. Once we made our lists, whenever we had extra money or found something on sale which was on our list, we would buy those items. I even started buying some items by the case to keep the prices down. After a few years of buying a little extra here and there, I think we have more than enough to barter. If I had thought of it at the time, I would have set up an actual store, so I could have bought wholesale in bulk and saved even more money. I could have kept everything stored somewhere and declared bankruptcy after selling it cheaply to a friend. That way we would have saved bunches of money by not have to pay a lot of taxes on it.”

“Not to get too personal,” Kelly said, “but how did you afford this?”

“Well, we were lucky enough I have a great job and after cutting back on everything we could we had extra money each month to build up our supply list. But even if we didn’t have large amounts of extra money each month, we would still be able to do what we did. It would have just taken a little more time than it did. Most families could do what we have done. They just need to look at their monthly spending and cut out a few bills for things they think they need but are luxury items. The money they save each month could buy a few supplies here and there. We are also not trained to buy used stuff when we can. We all have gotten used to the crappy construction of things and don’t want something used. Some things like scissors, knives, shovels, bikes, and even newer used cars are just as good as brand new ones but at lower prices. I’ve picked up tons of gardening equipment at estate sales for a fraction of what new equipment costs. What I did was scanned all the sale ads, trolled online sites, and went to all kinds of auctions and estate sales. A lot of the stuff we bought as extra or as future bartering items is used, bought in bulk at auctions, or purchased during sales. I figured no one would care if the axe they are buying is used when they do not have an axe and they need to chop wood. It didn’t actually take long to put together a whole cache of extra supplies doing it this way.”

“Don’t forget we also bought bulk items at regular prices as well. Some things like oil for cars, chainsaws, lawn mowers, and other equipment can be bought in larger sizes and you save money in the long run. Look for bulk items when you can and if you have to spend a weekend repackaging it into smaller units, so what. What else were you going to do, watch TV, play golf?” said Donna.

Mark and Kelly both knew at this point there were a lot of things they hadn’t thought of yet.  They felt there were going to be a lot more conversations in the near future about some of the things they were learning from Owen and Donna. They were still not fully convinced of the need for this level of preparations. They silently agreed they would research some of these things and see if they needed to be on the same path as Owen and Donna. After Owen finished, the couples spent quite a bit of time discussing the prepping he and Donna were already involved in for what they thought would be a nasty future.

During the discussions, Kelly admitted she loved working with her grandmother out in the garden every day when she visited her for the summer. She said she didn’t even gripe about having to get up extra early each day, so they could finish up the garden work before it got too hot. Mark gave her a funny look, since she had never told him about this and he still couldn’t imagine her with dirty hands and dirty feet.

“What?” Kelly asked when she caught Mark looking at her.

“I never would have imaged you with mud on your feet and dirt under your fingernails. I always pictured your visits to your grandparents as you sitting on the couch watching TV all day and not wanting to go out where the spiders were.”

“I can grow a mean beet, mister, and don’t you ever forget that,” Kelly laughed along with everyone else.

After they finished their gardening stories, Donna told them they had started taking some small vegetarian and ethnic cooking classes. She wanted ways to use all those vegetables so they would not have to eat boiled beets and mashed potatoes day after day. Owen said you would be surprised at how some of the Asian cooking methods fit perfectly in with small gardens.

“Once you learn how to substitute something for the rice, you can get some great meals with little cooking times and a large variety of tastes.”

“The second thing we started prepping for was the increase in crime that would follow a financial collapse. I think you believe in an increase in crime, but you haven’t done anything about it yet. Have you?”

“Not really,” Mark replied. “It has been in the back of my mind, but I haven’t decided what all to do.”

“Well, one of the things I would suggest is you get into great shape and learn how to protect yourself. I’m not talking about taking on an armed gang of thugs with machine guns and explosives like you read about in most ‘end-of-world’ novels. I’m talking about basic self-protection for the whole family, using some form of martial arts. Something you can use if someone tries to grab you or is trying to pull you out of your car. I think you both should also consider getting proficient with small handguns and shotguns. They are cheap and around here it is easy to find a gun range and take some marksmanship classes. Maybe you should even get your concealed handgun license.”

“Do you think that is necessary?” Kelly wanted to know.

“Think about it. The house you live in and the cars you drive make you a big target. Even the fact we have a garden and other people know we grow food makes us a target if people start becoming hungry. It may not be Martha who robs us while we are gone one day, but I wouldn’t put it past Martha’s grandson. He knows we have extra food. I’m not talking about becoming Rambo. I’m also not advocating shooting someone who wants your car or is trying to run out the door if you come home and they are robbing you. What I am talking about is protecting yourself and your family and having the confidence that comes from knowing you know how to protect yourself. A lot of street wise punks can tell the difference between sheep and wolves. Sheep are normal people who are scared of their shadow and are easy targets. Wolves are those who know how to protect themselves and it shows. You will get harassed a lot less if you are not a sheep but some sort of wolf. Now this doesn’t mean you will not get robbed or harassed if things do go south. Read about what happened in Argentina when their economy collapsed in the early 2000’s. Learn to protect yourself in some manner. Who knows, you might even enjoy some of it.”

“We need to get you in touch with my cousin,” Mark said. “The last time we spoke, he sounded a lot like you. I believe he is running a training center south of Denton. It’s been several years since I’ve talked to him, so I don’t remember much, but he is an expert in some sort of Israeli martial arts. I can’t remember the name now because at the time I was more into myself and didn’t listen to what he had to say. All I remember thinking at the time was ‘blah, blah, blah’ and how I paid taxes so cops could protect me and my family.”

“Did he happen to say Krav Maga?” asked Donna.

“Yeah, that sounds familiar,” Mark replied. “You know about that stuff?”

Owen looked at Mark and Kelly, “We believe everyone should be able to protect themselves in times of trouble. This doesn’t just mean me. It means Donna and the kids as well. We don’t believe in the old macho thing the man of the house is the sole protector of the house. Donna is just as capable as I am of defending herself, the kids, and the house if need be. In fact looking at her, you would not know that she could probably knock me out without breaking a sweat.”

Kelly and Mark both did a double-take at the statement and looked at Donna. “I’ve been studying Krav Maga for about ten years, at a place just south of Denton. I bet your cousin is RJ. He’s my instructor.”

“Damn, small world, isn’t it?” Mark exclaimed. “Before I forget again we are having a party here on Memorial Day. Figured why not use the place until we sell it. I’ve invited family and friends, but we would be honored if you came. RJ will be here and maybe you two can tell us more about what you study. I mean if you are not too busy taking care of your farm.”

Mark looked at Owen and asked, “Did you have to get up early and work earlier this morning on your farm so you could come out here today?”

“Not really. The garden did require some work, but it hasn’t taken off yet. Mostly we do watering, a little weeding, and fighting off bugs at this stage in the game. The heavy work comes at the end of June when everything seems to be ripening at once.”

“What he means,” Donna added, “is we would be more than happy to come here for your party.”

“Great,” said Mark. “We’ll send you an invite.”

“Tell me more about Krav Maga,” Kelly interjected.

“Krav Maga is a form of martial arts which was developed in Israel. Unlike some of the older martial arts, it is not based on a formalized structure system in which form is more important than actual usefulness in the real world.  Not saying those forms are not useful, anything is more useful than what you know today,” Donna responded.

“Yep, I wouldn’t want to come up against her in a dark hallway. Or come to think of it, yes I would, but that is another story,” Owen said with a laugh in his voice.

Donna gave him a fake hit on the arm while everyone had a good laugh at her expense. Kelly had a lot of questions for Donna on her martial arts training. She wanted details after details on what training in Krav Maga was like. Did she get hurt or have to go to work with bruises or if she worried about her kids being bullies after all the training and violence? Donna spent some time explaining what Krav Maga teaches and how the training would help in today’s world. She brought up a few examples of students in the class using their knowledge to prevent getting robbed at an ATM. She told them how one of the kids in the class was able to fight off a man who tried to abduct her one day in the park. Donna even told Kelly about a situation at work when she kept showing up with bruises and even a split lip she received from some advanced training she was undergoing. Donna said one of the nurses took her aside one day and tried to counsel her on being abused and the options she had. She said she didn’t have to live like that and they were here to help.

“What did you do?” Kelly asked, thinking what would happen at work if she came in with black eyes or a split lip. Then she wondered if anyone would care enough to even follow up on it.

“I tried to explain to them what I was doing and the training in Krav Maga I was going through. They never really believed me until I brought in a tape of myself during training and after that they left me alone and started calling me Terminator.”

After the laughter died down Donna added, “I would definitely talk to RJ about what he offers in his training facility. It is not all about Krav Maga, he also teaches other things which are useful.”  Donna went on to explain about how they all exercised every morning with a round of Tai Chi to get the energy flowing followed by Yoga to stretch the muscles. She went on to explain three days a week they followed up with stick fighting exercises. She said she found them useful when she was attacked a few years ago after she got off her late-night shift. She used a collapsible baton she always carries and fought off three guys. She told them she sent the three attackers to the ER. While they were being treated, the cops found out the three thugs were responsible for a whole series of violent rapes up and down the gulf coast. The cops told Donna she was lucky, but both she and Owen knew it wasn’t luck; it was her training that saved her.

Everyone became very quiet after this and Kelly broke the silence by asking Donna, “You said all of you practice together?”

“Yes. All four of us take classes in Tai Chi, Yoga, Krav Maga, stick fighting, and marksmanship. The kids do great with the classes and we believe it teaches them valuable lessons for life. Lessons make them more confident in themselves while giving them the ability to defend themselves against all those bullies who seem to be cropping up everywhere. The discipline of proper training in martial arts keeps kids from becoming bullies. They understand their abilities and do not have to show it off to everyone like a bully does. The first time a girl half your size knocks you on your butt. Stands over you with a smile on her face, will be the last time you think about picking on someone else.”

After the laughter died down Mark asked about guns. Owen responded to Mark by saying he and Donna did not always believe in guns. In fact, both of them were gun control supporters until there was a crime spree in Owen’s old hometown.

“I happened to be talking to a friend from home when he told me about a gang that had been breaking into homes in my old neighborhood. The town had gone through a crime spree with several shootings and the city council got together and banned all guns. There were protests from the NRA and gun owners. A lawsuit was brought up and started making its way through the system. Meanwhile, many people agreed with the new rules and started turning in their guns. The local TV news even made a big deal about the responsible citizens turning over their guns to the police. Well, it didn’t take long, according to my friend, before the gangs moved in. It didn’t matter if you were home or not, they busted down your front door and stormed into your house and robbed you blind. In some cases they did much worse if they caught wives and girls at home alone.  The gangs knew no one would be able to stop them because the police were too slow and a lot people didn’t have any way to protect themselves. My friend told me that in one night two of the guys we hung out with in high school were robbed. One of them we knew from our gun control meetings and the other was a hunter. We always suspected he had other guns in his house he didn’t talk about. The first one was brutally beaten and had to watch his wife and teenage daughters get assaulted and beaten to death in front of his eyes. He lived long enough to tell the cops what he had seen and provide a description of two of the robbers who had huge snake tattoos on their necks. After that, they said he just gave up and died.”

Mark and Kelly had shocked looks on their faces from this personal experience Owen was telling them about, but Owen went on. “My other friend’s house was also broken into that night by the same group of punks. But this time things went a little different as Fred had started keeping a handgun near him due to the large number of violent home invasions taking place. Once the punks were through the door, Fred shot them all. All four of them were hospitalized and later put into prison for the murders they had committed. Fred was a hero to many in the town. He was also a pariah to the gun control people who controlled the town. They brought up charges against him for owning the guns and shooting the gang members. Apparently, it was not legal for him to protect himself in his own home if he had to do so with guns. The liberals would rather see his family raped and killed than consider the fact the man saved a lot of lives in the long run by killing those scum. The charges they put on him for gun ownership were dropped and he promptly moved away. We found out later one of the leading gun control advocates was murdered as well.  He went to get his split from the robberies his own little gang was performing and they shot him. We became strong gun rights advocates after that day.”

Everyone spent the next few minutes with internal thoughts before Owen continued his discussion, “The third thing we did in our prepping was to get ready for disaster scenarios. What would we do if the electricity went off for a week? What would we do if we couldn’t leave our house for a week? Those type of questions. Just look around at some disasters which are happening around the world and ask yourself what you would do to survive it. These exercises prep you for things that could happen but may never happen. They show you weaknesses in your other plans.”

“Like what?” Mark wondered.

“Like the fact you have two young kids and how would you entertain them once electricity goes off in a storm or off for a few days for other reasons. Also what would you do if you lose your air conditioning for a week in August and you couldn’t go to a hotel room or over to your parents. Most of our houses are pretty damn miserable in Texas summers without air conditioning. We don’t even have basements here like up north. Basements are always cooler than the house and when I was a kid I spent hot days in the basement playing.”

“I haven’t thought about that. In fact, there are a lot of things I haven’t thought about.”

“I think you will after tonight,” grinned Owen. “Look at all your plans and start poking holes in them based on what you believe will happen. You can always look at events that had happened in your area in the past to get a good idea of what you need to watch out for. Start with these and work your way up to larger events which may happen but have not happened in the past. I don’t think you’re ready to prep for an EMP burst. You are at the point to start thinking about what you would do if a major tornado outbreak hit and left this part of Texas without power.”

“EMP?” asked Kelly.

“It stands for electromagnetic pulse. EMP fries all electronics by creating an energy wave in them and shorting them out. You think high gas prices would be horrible. Try thinking about our world without any electricity or electronics left working. None of them will work and it could be decades before things start to come back to normal.”

Owen and Donna spent a few hours discussing how they started preparing for a disaster. They had already started stocking up with extra supplies due to their concerns about the economy. Holding disaster drills helped to enforce the instructions they would need during a disaster and if the economy. Owen talked about the disaster game he created to come up with possible scenarios so they could discuss what they would do. He also discussed the “live” practice events they held periodically to verify if what they think they would do in a certain scenario would actually work. He told them these games and training events helped them to discover huge holes in their plans. They talked for an hour or so about the possible disasters that could affect everyone both on a local level and on a planet-wide level. The discussions became intense and they would have kept talking for many hours until everyone realized it was almost midnight and they needed to get the kids in bed. All the kids were already asleep on the couches when everyone went in.  They kept the noise down to a minimum as Owen and Donna picked up Sera and Lelian and started for their car. “Thank you, we had a wonderful time tonight,” Donna whispered.

“I feel as if you are the ones we need to thank. So, thank you and Owen for everything you told us today. I feel we came out ahead with all the new information we learned tonight,” said Kelly.

Owen thanked Mark and Kelly. Mark said, “Why don’t you give us a few more weeks after the Memorial Day party to work things out.  We can get together for another pool party and tell you our plans and compare them to yours.”

“Are you sure you want to host us again?” Owen said. “We can get together at our house if you would like.”

“Might as well make use of this monstrosity while we still have it,” Mark said with a smile. “After we sell and move away, we can take turns. Hell, we can even change it over from a pool party to a canning party like my grandmother used to talk about. Spend the day talking while putting away jars and jars of beets or corn or something else. It would be good for the kids to learn not every Saturday is for fun. Something I just learned a few months ago myself.”

Everyone chuckled and Owen replied, “Ok, it’s a deal. There is still a lot I can tell you if you want me to.”

“We would love that,” Mark said, “and thank you again for all the information you shared tonight. It means a lot to me that you took the time to tell us all of this.”

As Kelly put the kids to bed, Mark cleaned up and started thinking about everything he heard tonight. After putting away everything and closing up the house, Mark went upstairs and told Kelly, “We have a lot to discuss tomorrow, don’t we.”

“Yes, we do,” Kelly said as she slipped into bed. Both Kelly and Mark were tired from their activities today and even with everything going on in their heads, both were able to promptly fall asleep.

While in the car, Donna looked at Owen and asked him, “You’re going to tell him about the community and clan, aren’t you?”

“I’m going to talk to RJ about it. I think he might want to bring it up. Even though they may not be ready to join up yet, I owe him.”

“What do you mean?” asked Donna.

“I never told you, but right after I came over to Plains some existing VP was angry because his friend didn’t get my job. He started a project and railroaded me into heading it and he set me up for failure. He did it in a way that not only would I have lost my job; it would have been horrible enough I might have been accused of embezzlement and fraud. I might have even gone to jail if he was successful. At the minimum, it would have ruined my career and labeled me as a criminal for the rest of my life.“

Donna gasped at the news, but realized she wasn’t surprised at the news since her and Owen’s opinions of most corporate executives were not very high. They believed most executives are more concerned about themselves, their stock options, and how powerful they can get. Destroying someone else or even the company they worked for wouldn’t bother many of them as long as they came out more powerful or richer in the long run.

“Mark told me he didn’t know me and was only concerned about the company since I had taken his promotion away from him. Even then, he could not let what was going to happen, happen. He related what he had discovered the other guy was doing and said he knew how to stop it so the company wouldn’t get hurt. He worked twenty hours a day for about five days to get the project on track and reverse all the damage the other guy did. He was able to erase all the lies planted to set me up. He also gave me enough ammunition to get the other guy fired and booted out of the company without any benefits he had earned. The company may have taken a hit, but I think Mark didn’t want to see me hurt by some vindictive asshole. He just wouldn’t come out and say it.  While we may not have been close friends these last few years, he saved me and my job and has never asked for anything in return, so I owe him this.”

“Agreed. Tell him everything. I’ll back you if the others start making noises,” Donna said. “Besides, we don’t know how long it will take him and Kelly to come around.”

“It won’t take long. Mark is one of the sharpest people I have ever met. Right after I started, Damian wanted to go over our entire disaster recovery plan so we would survive a terrorist attack on the company. We didn’t trust anyone currently at the company at the time because we didn’t know them or how skillful they were. I mean everyone always talks highly of their computer guys. Sometimes the guys are not good at anything they do not do every day. We brought in this outside consulting firm and paid them millions to create a ‘bullet proof’ DR plan. They spent months putting the thing together. Before I would let them present it to the other executives, I decided to let Mark go over it.  Mark knew more about Plains’ systems and processes than anyone else. He tore them up. I mean within fifteen minutes. He had poked so many holes into their plan I ended up telling the consulting firm I wouldn’t pay them until they fixed all the holes Mark had found. I also told them they need to clean up the holes in any revisions they made. It took them another six months to beef up the report enough so that Mark couldn’t find anything wrong with it.”

“Wow!”

“Exactly. I think they lost money on the project. They kept bringing in new guys to help out. After a while I realized they were using Mark to train their consultants on how to put together a ‘proper’ DR report. No one ever said anything, but I think they offered him lots of money to leave Plains and go to work for them. I guess he turned them down, which I am glad, because that was before he saved my butt.”

Donna smiled and gave Owen a quick peck on the cheek, sat back quietly for the rest of the trip back home.

Chapter 11

The next morning, after waking up later than normal, no one felt like getting dressed and going out for breakfast. Mark wanted to expand his cooking skills, so he offered to try his hand at making breakfast for the entire family. He prepared a breakfast of eggs, bacon, biscuits, and gravy, but threw in a potato, onion, and bell pepper hash to use up some of the leftovers from yesterday’s party. Everyone said the breakfast was great and even loved the sliced, cooked tomatoes he whipped up at the last minute. Mark and Kelly had been trying to figure out how to use unneeded food and leftovers so their food waste was kept to the minimum. Reusing the tomatoes for breakfast was a perfect way to find another use for the leftover ones from the party. “You’re getting to be quite the cook,” Kelly joked, as she was helping Mark wash up.

He turned to her and said, “Why don’t you take the kids over to your mom’s this morning. I’m sure they would love to see them and it will give me a chance to try to write down everything I can remember from our conversation yesterday. Once you get back we can go over my notes and add anything I’ve missed.”

“That sounds good. I haven’t talked to mom in a few days, so I think I will spend the morning with them as well. That should give you enough time to go over everything, make your notes, do the research you so much love to do, and organize your thoughts before I get home. I’ll give you until lunch and I’ll leave the kids at mom’s house for the afternoon. I’ll come back right after lunch and we can go over everything you’ve come up with.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Mark replied, “Why don’t you get the kids ready and I’ll finish up here?”

After seeing Kelly and the kids off, Mark went up to his office and started making notes on everything he remembered from the discussions with Owen and Donna. It took him several hours and multiple passes of remembering yesterday conversations, making notes, and rereading his notes before he was convinced he had captured everything he wanted. As he was looking over the notes one final time, Mark started thinking about the financial conversations they had with the Millers. He knew now Owen and Donna believed in a worse future for America than he and Kelly believed. Based on his own research and conversations, Mark was convinced Plains and other airlines would fold up and Kelly’s job would either disappear or be seriously reduced in salary. He had never put together everything he had learned with the overall effect on the world.  He knew the overall effect Peak Oil would have on the economy, but he had never thought deeply enough to realize how much everything would change. A part of him believed he and Kelly would go to different jobs without any changes in their lives other than those caused by the reduction in their salaries. He never considered banks would close or the upcoming depression would be so bad civilization would fray around the edges or crumble completely. He always believed in the power of the American way of life. He never thought America would not be able to “come up with something” to end a depression with nothing more than additional homeless and poor people. The more Mark thought about the total picture, the more he found himself believing Owen was right. Maybe he and Kelly should prepare for a much deeper collapse than they originally believed in. Maybe they needed to worry about a time in which almost no one had a job. A time, money would be something out of the past. A world in which there may be some form of government left. People would be living lives similar to the American frontier. Law enforcement did not go outside on their small towns. Government would exist, but you wouldn’t interact with a government official except for once or twice a year to pay some form of tax. The military would exist, but it would be very small and only used for direct threats against the country. The military would not help keep criminals from riding roughshod over normal people. The military would stay holed up in a few bases or provide security for whatever remained of the government and its property.

Mark got up from his chair and even though it was only 11 o’clock in the morning, he needed a glass of wine to clear his head. He found himself out on the deck thinking about all the novels he read and all the movies he had seen which depicted an apocalyptic world. Would an apocalyptic world be what they were facing if gas became $10, $15, or $20 or more a gallon? Would we adjust or would we fold? He was still deep in thought when Kelly walked in.

“Hey ,Hon, you all finished?”

“Hey, Sweetie, you back already?”

“It’s after lunch. Did you not eat?”

“Damn. No, I have been sitting out here for the last two hours thinking about things.”

“Why don’t I make you a sandwich and you go get your notes. I can read them over while you eat and then we can go over everything.”

Mark got up and went to get his notes from this morning while Kelly put together a quick sandwich for him with some of the leftover steak from yesterday. While he was eating, she sat out on the porch and looked over everything he had scratched down during the morning.  “Anything missing?” Mark asked.

“Nothing I can remember off the top of my head. Something might come to me later, but I think this covers about everything we talked about,” Kelly replied.

“What do you think about all of this?”

“I know we both agreed on the financial bit before, but based on your notes here, you think it might be a lot worse than we originally thought.”

“That was what I was thinking about when you walked in. Maybe Owen and Donna are right. Maybe the whole thing will blow up and it will take decades before we have something close to a functioning society like we have today. Maybe we should think about how we would live with no real jobs or money available. Lives in which we may have to barter for the few things still available. Lives in which we are totally responsible for ourselves and shouldn’t count on having jobs or the government being there for us or anyone else.”

“I haven’t thought about the whole thing this way before. I know, based on what I have learned from my research and what you and Owen have discussed things may get worse than we believe. But do you think it will get bad enough to cause society to collapse?  Do you think instead of having 50% of our income, we will not have jobs at all?” Kelly asked with a concerned look on her face.

“After thinking about it this morning. I think we should continue with our plan of adjusting our daily expenses so we are able to live on 50% of what we make today. We should give ourselves by the end of the summer to make the adjustment. Once we get to 50% and have gotten used to that amount of income, we should try to cut our expenses down by another 50%. Another 50% and maybe even another 50%. By next summer we should be living like we would if we made only minimum wage. This would be very difficult, but it would give us a head start of how we would have to live if the whole thing collapsed. I believe the only way we would survive a meltdown would be if we prepared for the meltdown and get used to it before it actually happens. It will be a lot easier to change our lives around when we have extra money to make adjustments. It would difficult if we wait and do not have money to buy a heavy coat or stock up on food or any other things we may have to do. I wouldn’t want to be trapped in this house if things went south. There would be no way we could live here on no money. We couldn’t heat or cool this thing let alone be able to plant a garden in the small yard we have.”

“And if a meltdown never comes?” Kelly asked.

Mark smiled. “We retire at fifty in our little house in the country. We live out our lives holding each other’s hand on the front porch and eating tomatoes directly from our garden.”

Kelly smiled and asked, “What about the house? We’ll never make our goal if can’t sell it and we still have to make payments for a few more years.”

“Ok, we fudge it. We figure out how much a small house and land in country would cost. We use that figure in our budget for the housing costs after the crash. We can fudge some of the other numbers as well for utilities, HOA fees, and upkeep to match the smaller house and our new way of life. This would make us try to get something smaller we might pay off. The monthly payments would be staring us in the face when we try to figure out finances after a crash.”

“Ok. What if we don’t sell this house and can’t move forward because of the costs of this thing?”

“We give ourselves a year. If we don’t sell it by then,” he looked at her with a grave look on his face, “we walk away from it.”

“Sounds harsh,” Kelly replied with a worried look on her face. “I saw from my research other people are doing the same thing around the country. If they are not able to sell their house because they are underwater on them, they walk away from the mortgage after buying or renting something else. It hurts their credit and might come back to haunt us if the economy doesn’t go down as far as we think it will.”

“True,” Mark said, “but we both believe something will happen and it will make us lose this house anyway. Might as well do everything on our terms and not because we are forced to after going through all our savings like John did. If things get as bad as we both now think they will, credit scores won’t mean anything to anyone anyway.”

“I’m not sure I like it, but ok. One year trying to sell it and we default and walk away,” Kelly said with a small frown on her face. Sometimes she couldn’t believe all of this. It seemed to her the evidence was pointing to a huge collapse in the global economic system. As much as she wanted to stay in the world she lived in now, she knew that would just be living in a dream world for the next few years. After that, the dream world would turn into a nightmare.  “We do the same thing with my car lease over the next year. We can’t get rid of the lease until next summer, so we find out what it would cost to buy a suitable substitute and put the money aside. The lease would be written off as a luxury until we can stop it.”

“Exactly. While we may not actually be living at 50% of our pay, we will act like it as much as possible,” Mark replied.

Mark thought for a bit and asked, “What about a house? When we sell this one, we still need somewhere to live. If we are going to live on next to nothing, we would not be able to afford a house payment that is more than a few hundred dollars a month. This means we need to own a house.”

“So we find one in which we can pay off quickly,” Kelly remarked.

“How are we going to do that?”

She looked at him, “We close out our 401ks. I know we will get nailed on the penalties, but if things go like we both now believe they will our 401ks won’t be worth anything anyway. Why not walk away with something from them rather than hold out and let the stocks behind them sink into nothingness.”

Mark looked at her and smiled. “I have to admit that is a great idea. I’m usually the one who wants to do something risky. You are changing faster than I am. So once we close them out, whatever is left over after taxes and penalties, we put aside for a purchase of a house. We can add some to it, but basically we buy something outright with that money.”

“Agreed.  Let’s do it now before we chicken out.”

They went into Mark’s office and dug up their 401k information. Having only worked at their present jobs, they didn’t have 401ls lying around everywhere like some people do because they had worked numerous jobs.  It did not take long to round up the information. Mark had the one with Plains and Kelly had the one with Texas Restaurants. It didn’t take them long to find out they would actually have to leave their jobs before they could close out the 410ks. They briefly considered taking a loan out against their 401k, but tossed the idea aside because neither one of them wanted another loan.

“Even though it didn’t work out as planned,” Mark said, “at least we have a figure now based on today’s stock prices. Let’s hope that it doesn’t go down too much before we can close out.”

“So you are saying, let’s hope we get fired or laid off before the stock market crashes and wipes out the money.”

“Something like that. We might have to make that a plan B and figure something else out about living arrangements, but at least this is a plan.”

“Wait a minute,” Kelly exclaimed.

“What?”

“While I was at my mother’s this morning, she mentioned Granny wanted to sell the farm to someone in the family. She had approached everyone else in the family.  No one wanted it because it is too remote to live on and commute to Dallas or Fort Worth. They few who didn’t care about the commute didn’t have the money. Granny didn’t ask us because Mom told her there would be no way we would do it. She thought we were too ‘city’ to buy a small farm so far away from Dallas even though it is only about ninety minutes away.”

Mark smiled and said, “She would have been right a few months ago. Let’s plan on visiting your grandmother soon and see if she was serious. Maybe we can do something with her which would allow us to have our own retreat without having to wait until we cash in our 401ks. If we could get the farm and start working to get it up to speed, we could rent something small and cheap within commuting range of both our jobs. That would give us something permanent and we could spend our time and money on improving so the place can be ready for when things fall apart. This would resolve the next problem on the list as well, which is how we would feed ourselves if everything collapses. With the farm, we may end up like Owen and Donna and grow all of our own food. Even if this doesn’t work out and we have to buy something else, I think we should still consider getting a place large enough we can have a garden. I think having a garden would not only provide us with food, but could be used to teach our kids a lot about work and responsibility. We can make them responsible for something they like to eat. If they don’t follow up on planting and taking care of the item, we don’t have their item to eat. Show them long-term consequences of their actions or lack of action.”

Both of them were happy as they made plans to skip work on Wednesday and drive up to Madill to see Kelly’s grandmother about the farm. They had planned on going up there in a few weeks after the kids were out of school. They figured more than one trip in a month wouldn’t bother Granny one bit.

“Let’s take a break,” Mark said as he crossed off the first two items on his list. “I know there is a lot more to these items, but we can work on it over time. I want to clear my head before we start talking about the crime stuff.”

They took a little break and when they were ready again, sat back down and started reviewing their beliefs about the crime rate after the meltdown. “Do you think guns and karate will be necessary?” Kelly asked.

“I don’t know. I never gave it much thought, but what Owen and Donna said made a lot of sense. Things are violent enough now. What do you think will happen when the counties and cities start reducing the number of police officers? What will happen when gas gets so expensive the cops can’t afford to simply drive around all night looking for whatever trouble is out there?”

“Won’t it affect the criminals as well? If the cops can’t get around because of the lack of gas, won’t the criminals have the same problem?”

“They might. But then again, what if part of each home invasion are the bad guys sucking all the gas out of any cars? They will think they can get enough gas each time they rob someone it won’t stop them. Getting gas may actually encourage them because they would be able to keep their cars filled up. They won’t have the same concerns as the cops about not having enough gas.”

“That makes sense to me. Why don’t we talk to RJ at the party? We can get his opinion. If he thinks guns are necessary, we get some and learn to use them. I do not want any guns in my houses until everyone, including both girls, is familiar with them. I don’t want the kids to think they are play toys and end up shooting themselves or anyone else.“

“I’m with you all the way on that. We should also talk to RJ about signing up at his gym for martial arts and other classes he teaches. We should not just rely on guns for protection. The more I think about it, the more I agree anyone of us can be attacked at any time once things start getting bad.”

Kelly looked at Mark with a smile, “You better not ever call me Terminator. I don’t care how good I get at karate or Krav Maga or anything else.”

Mark chuckled and knew they had tabled the discussion until later. He didn’t press for any more discussion on the topic. He wanted some more time to read what the crime rate did in the few other countries which had already suffered massive economic collapses.  The histories of Argentina, Zimbabwe, Greece, Spain, and Italy should tell him something. He wanted to know if crime had gone way out of hand in those countries as they faced what he was sure America was about to face.

“What about the other issues?” asked Kelly.

“The disaster scenarios?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought about those while you were gone and I believe we should follow through with them as well. I don’t know what we will end up doing and I don’t want to make any changes based on this house unless we can transfer the work to another place. But if we do go through some scenarios, we might at least learn something that is useful everywhere.”

“Like what?” wondered Kelly.

“Like if we had a nasty storm and one of us got hurt. I would like to learn to do some basic first aid. It would be nice to know we could do something for the kids until help arrived. I don’t want to think about what I would feel like if I had to watch any of you in a lot pain. Or see you bleed to death because I didn’t want to take time to learn something simple which might have prevented your death. I’m no longer one of those people who still think the authorities will always be knocking on the door in a blink of an eye when I call them. I’m also no longer someone who thinks I should never have to do anything myself or be responsible for anything because the government will always be there for me.”

“I see your point. I don’t feel like getting into this today. Why don’t you work this over the next few days and we’ll go over it next Sunday.“

“I’ll do that. I don’t want to think about this anymore today either. I just want to sit here and hold my wife’s hand until the kids come home.”

Chapter 12

The new week started as expected with no new major issues cropping up at home or work. Mark was able to finalize his project plan for Owen on Monday and spend most Tuesday working up some disaster scenarios to go over with Kelly. It didn’t take him long to realize they were not even prepared for the simplest emergency, yet alone for any major disaster. Their old disaster preparations were to go to a hotel room and wait out the problem or run to the nearest clinic if someone was hurt. It didn’t matter if the issue was losing electricity for a few hours, a storm wiped out half the town, or one of the kids cut open their finger. In their minds, there would always be a hotel or clinic nearby. Their current plans had them walking away from everything and going to whatever store they could find with a credit card  and buying supplies to ride out the disaster. Mark knew he had his work cut out for him if he wanted to have this family be able to ride out the simplest of disasters without outside help.

Once Mark got home and put the kids to bed, he was able to sit down with Kelly and go over some of the things he found during the day. “I looked over our disaster preparedness today,” Mark said as he took a drink of wine.

“Well, how did we do?” Kelly asked already knowing the answer.

“We failed miserably,” Mark laughed. “I don’t think either one of us would survive a stumped toe without calling a doctor or spending a night in a hotel. We don’t have anything ready. We have no copies of basic paperwork and we don’t even own a first aid kit, yet alone know how to use it. I think we have a lot of work ahead of us to be ready even for a simple storm.”

“That bad?”

“Yes, that bad. I started making a list of some of the things I think we need to do. One of the first things is to schedule and take a basic first aid class. It might not be enough for a major disaster, but it is a start. I don’t think we need to become combat medics, but advanced first aid in a disaster situation would be nice. I think I will talk to Owen about setting up another pool party with his family. We can talk to Donna about advanced first aid then.”

“Ok. What else do we need to do?”

“One of the items I kept seeing was something called a ‘bug-out bag’. I don’t think I want to prepare for the sudden collapse of civilization like many preppers do. I do want to put something together in case we have to leave our house in a hurry because of some disaster. One of the things I might ask you to do is copy all the paperwork we have lying around our offices. It would be nice to have copies somewhere else besides here in case of fire.“

“I can do that. We have a high-speed copier which can email us a jpeg instead of making an actual copy. I will jpeg everything and we can either store them online or create multiple small flash drives or cards with the copies. The hardest thing will be to keep the drives in synch once we scatter them around.”

Mark thought for a moment before saying, “I’ll look into methods to try to keep everything up to date. I think there are several applications out there we can use to help us out.”

“What else do we need to do?” Kelly wondered.

“After making copies of our paperwork and starting our first aid training, I would like to create some actual bug-out bags with extra clothes, personal items, playing cards, and cash. Nothing fancy, but something we could grab if we needed to leave in a hurry because of some disaster. Maybe get some strong waterproof bags. They need to hold enough to last two or more days at a hotel or at one of our parent’s houses without having to go to the store. I’ve found several lists for bug-out bags I want to look over and merge. I will let you know when I am done and we can start putting the bags together. I also want to create a shopping list of food which is easy to fix and make sure we always have about seven days’ worth on hand. I’m worried something big will happen and we may have to go a few days without being able to go to a store.”

“What do you think will happen that makes us not able to go to the store?” Kelly asked.

“Just thinking about some disasters that have happened and projecting them out to be larger than they were. What do you think would have happened to our grocery stores if 9-11 had taken place in multiple cities? I think the whole country would have stopped and after a day or so, our stores would have been emptied. Or what do you think would have happened if Hurricane Katrina had wiped out Miami, hit New Orleans and turned east and flooded Atlanta? How many loaves of bread would you be able to find if half the Southeast lay in ruins? There seems to be so many things that might happen or could have been a little worse which would keep us from leaving our house for a few days. I know they are a little more prepared up north for extended disasters and can usually go several days to weeks during winter storms. Here, we don’t even think about it. About the only thing that happen around here are tornados and they either wipe out your house or not. Even then, the area of destruction if usually small compared to a major hurricane or snow storm. We should be prepared for something that locks us in place for few days.”

“Ok, Ok. I get your point,” Kelly said. “What do you need me to do besides copy all our important paperwork?”

“Nothing now. I’m going to go over this in the next week and visualize what we would need to survive three days being cut off and then seven days being cut off. I think I will end up buying some camping supplies we can use for disasters or when we start working on the farm and want to stay overnight. Hell, if we are planning on living after a collapse of society, we might want to practice by spending our vacations camping somewhere. We need to get used to roughing it little by little just like everything else we plan to do.”

“Ok, Daniel Boone. You do your visualization exercise and make your lists and I’ll do what we need to do in order to get ready for a disaster,” Kelly teased Mark.

“Ha. Ha,” Mark laughed back. “I know one of the things we need to do is make a complete house-hold search and find out what we have scattered around here. I don’t want to buy anything if we already have twelve of them scattered around or hidden in some closet somewhere.”

“Good idea. Why don’t we divide the house up and over the next few days each of us can make an inventory of what we find?  Who knows, it might surprise us.”

“Let’s go a step further and use the opportunity to figure out what stuff we have lying around here we can also get rid of. I know the upstairs closet is full of crap we haven’t used in years. We probably have two dozen duffel bags crammed into various closets.” Mark was referring to the fact whenever they traveled they always bought so much stuff they had to buy additional duffel bags to get it back home. Over the years, they had amassed quite a collection of spare duffel bags since they always forgot to take extras with them.

“Ok. I’ll take the kitchen, girl’s rooms, upstairs closets, and my part of the upstairs and you take the garage, living room, den, downstairs closets and your part of the upstairs. You do the bathrooms down here and I’ll do the girl’s and guest bathrooms upstairs. You take the media room and I’ll take the game room.”

“Deal,” Mark said.

“Anything else we need to do?” Kelly asked.

“Not much now. I still have a lot of work to do on my part, but this should keep us busy for several weeks. I still need to go over plans for scenarios. You can put together a menu we could cook if we were without power and water for three days and then bump it up to seven days. I eventually want to go as long as two weeks. I think anything more than two weeks would be too complex and costly given we are trying to put together our farm and prepare for a total collapse. We do need to make sure the food we put aside for disasters is something we eat on a regular basis. Also, we need to rotate the extra in and out of our regular meals to keep it fresh. When we go to the store the next month or two we need to buy two of everything so we always have a spare. An example would be two tubes of toothpaste or sticks of deodorant when we run out instead of just one. We still need to buy another whenever we use up one of the tubes or sticks. We should always have enough on hand to cover the length of our planning.”

“How would I even guess at the amount of toilet paper or tissues we would use?” Kelly asked.

“One of the tips I learned was to write the date you opened something and you can track how long it took to use it up. So when we open a new package of toilet paper make a note of the date. When it is empty, we put how long it took to use up into a spreadsheet and keep a running average. We have to adjust for if anyone in the house is sick and uses more than normal, but overall it is a good place to start.”

“I can do that,” Kelly said. “I have been trying to figure out how to plan for living on the farm and not going to the grocery store all the time. This would go with me trying to keep track of what we eat and how much we eat. I will start creating a ‘master’ list of food and other essentials so I know how much to stock up on each year.”

“Ok. I’m beat. Why don’t we take a break from all this doom and gloom planning and head down for a glass of wine before going to bed. This stuff is giving me a headache.”

Chapter 13

Wednesday came around and Mark was ready to take a break from the doom and gloom of disaster planning and go see Kelly’s grandmother.  Mark and Kelly both called in sick and after dropping the kids off at school they started the ninety minute drive to Madill. While driving to Madill, both thought about the conversation they had with his parents yesterday about the need to pick up the kids after school. Mark’s parents were delighted about taking care of the kids.  They had been feeling “left out” as their time with the grandkids had dropped when Mark and Kelly decided to act like real parents and raise their own kids. The Turners both knew someday soon they would have to tell both sets of parents their concerns and plans for the future. They didn’t know how to tell them yet without sounding like alarmists. After their discussion yesterday, both Mark and Kelly also knew they would have to start taking their parents’ needs into account as well. They felt like they couldn’t plan a future that protected them from the meltdown, but left everyone else in their family on their own to face what was coming. This left them a little on edge as they did not know how to plan the future for a group of people without telling them what they were planning. Mark even made a comment he didn’t even know who all they should plan for. He didn’t want to think about any of his family members living under bridges and starving while he had a roof over his head and food on his table. They both knew they couldn’t solve this problem today, but it did not prevent them from thinking about it all the way to Kelly’s grandmother’s house.

The short trip went smoothly and Kelly started crying as soon as she saw her grandmother. It had been several years since they had bothered coming up here to see her. Kelly instantly knew not seeing her regularly had been a major mistake on her part. She had always been close to her grandparents and did a good job keeping in touch with them throughout college and the first years of marriage with Mark. It wasn’t until Dakota was born and Kelly became “indispensable” at work she stopped making a monthly trip up to Madill. Soon she stopped calling them to see how things were going. Like Mark said earlier, they had gotten so self-involved they had shut out everyone in their lives they didn’t see as part of their plan to conquer the world. The tears came heavier as Kelly realized how much she missed her granddad and how she should have taken the time to visit him more often before he died. They spent more time eating out some nights, than it would have taken to drive to Madill to spend time visiting him and showing they still cared before he died.

Once they got in Ellen’s little room, Kelly and Ellen talked and talked for hours.  Mark sat there and listened and enjoyed the conversation. Most people who knew the old Mark would have thought it would have been a very boring day for him listening to the two of them chatter away. The new Mark now realized how much family meant and enjoyed the day. Deep down Mark wished he had the same type of relationship with his grandparents or even parents. He listened to them recall the events of the past and he wanted to build the same type of relationship in the future with all the members of his family. He grew up resenting his dad and granddad for trying to make him settle for a “small” life instead of the grand one he had dreamed about. Parents and grandparents were always out of touch with how he thought he wanted to live and. He also wanted more than just a job and small family like they had. He wanted a big job with fancy cars, big houses, and expensive things. Like many young people, he didn’t know what he was asking for at the time. His parents’ lives were the ones they should have been living the entire time.

Around lunch, Mark interjected himself into the conversation by stating everyone must be hungry. Why didn’t they go to the little café they went to the last time and get some lunch? While they ate, Mark looked at Ellen and said, “When’s the last time you ate here? I thought I remember you once saying this was your favorite place to eat.”

“This was my and Pa’s special place. We didn’t eat out much, but on birthdays, anniversaries and such we came here. This place brings back a lot of memories,” she said with a far-away look on her face.

After a few minutes, Ellen looked at Kelly and said, “You know the farm is just up the road.”

“I remember,” said Kelly. “Mom told me you wanted to sell the farm, but wanted it to stay in the family. She said you approached everyone but no one wanted it.”

“Well, your mom got a few things wrong. I don’t want to sell the farm. I want to give it away.”

Kelly and Mark were surprised at this remark. “Give it away?”

“Yes. I talked to all my kids and most of my grandkids about taking the place over. No one wanted to be responsible for the place or they couldn’t afford to pay the back taxes on it. I don’t think anyone of them wanted to live here and do something with the place other than use the land to hunt on. I didn’t think you two would want to leave the city for a farm. I knew Mark didn’t hunt, so I never talked to you about taking the place over. I was hoping someone would want to live here and build the farm back to where it used be. A crazy, old women’s dream, I guess.”

“What back taxes?” Kelly interrupted.

“Well, I never expected to live to be this old. I only have the social security and the little Bill Holland pays me for using one of the fields to cut hay from. Everything has gone up in price. With the government cutting our social security a few years ago, I didn’t have the money to pay all of those taxes on the place. If it wasn’t for Billy I would have lost the place two years ago.”

“Billy?”

“Yes. Bill’s son. Billy is the county lawyer and he has refused to take away small family farms for back taxes. A lot of us senior citizens owe the man a lot because he kept a lot of people in their houses when everyone else would have thrown us out. He’s taken a lot of grief over the years. I guess it is too much for him because he’s leaving the county next month for some bigger job in Oklahoma City. I think he is tired of fighting the younger people running the county who wouldn’t wait a heartbeat before throwing us off our land for back taxes. I think they believe they could resell the land to some big developer and make a lot of money for the county after all those new people move in.”

”No one wants land around here for anything but hunting,” Ellen continued. “Farming is hard work and doesn’t pay enough for young people to make a living on a few hundred acres. Madill is too far from the big cities for most people to live here and work in Dallas or Fort Worth. They will foreclose on everyone and the county will be stuck with large tracts of land they can’t do anything with. All those family farms will be put on auction and bought for hunting, oil, or something else. This county will dry up once Billy leaves.”

“Granny, how much do you owe?” asked Kelly.

“I got a letter this morning with the balance for the new taxes as well as the back ones.” She looked down and whispered, “I owe $5,678.23. I don’t know how anyone could owe that much for land which has been in my family for years. I can’t image anyone being able to pay it off,” she sighed.

“As soon as we get finished eating, we’ll go back to your place and get the letter and go pay off those taxes,” Mark said, while looking at Granny.

Ellen looked shocked, but said, “I can’t ask that of you two. $5,000 is a lot of money for something you don’t want. It’s way too much money to take from anyone if they don’t want to live on the place. You don’t even hunt.” Ellen looked at them with a small smile on her face, “Are you telling me that you want the farm?”

“We never said you had to give us the farm, Granny,” said Kelly. “We don’t expect anything in return. We have the money and would be more than happy to help you out.”

Ellen misted up. She smiled at the thought of Kelly living on the farm.  This might be the start of her dream of someone in the family taking over the place. She smiled the rest of the time at the restaurant. It was as if a weight had lifted off her shoulders. She was sure the farm would have to leave the family after finding out about the back taxes and Billy leaving the county.  Now it looked like the farm was safe. It was always her dream for someone in the family to take the farm over and raise their family on it like she, her mother, and her grandmother had. She always dreamt it would be Kelly after having her over for the summers when she was growing up. Kelly had always had a connection with the farm and Ellen always wondered why she never knew it and wanted to live in some big ol’ city. She wished she had approached Kelly and Mark with the offer she made everyone else and now wondered if it was not too late. But she still thought Mark would never want to leave his fancy house in Dallas for a small farm in the middle of nowhere.

On the way back to the Ellen’s place, Mark asked Kelly to find out what bank account Ellen used. They would put the money in her account so she could write out the check. When Kelly wanted to put money into her account a few years ago for her 90th birthday party her mother told her Ellen used the same bank they did. She helped Ellen find the account information and the past due notice. They piled into the car and headed to the bank to deposit the money needed to pay the taxes. While Kelly was filling out the transfer slip, Mark whispered, “Put another $10,000 into her account. We shouldn’t have to worry about her not having money again.” Kelly smiled and added a leading one to the amount she had written on the deposit slip. After filling in the slip, she looked at Mark with an “I’ll pay you back later” smile.

Once they were finished at the bank and the money was transferred, they went to the county tax assessor’s office and watched as Ellen paid off the entire outstanding balance. Ellen beamed and beamed the whole time and cried when she signed her name to the check and handed the check over to the clerk. Mark and Kelly smiled at her and how the simple act of helping her out with the back taxes had made such a big difference in her day. Yes, $16,000 was a lot of money to the vast majority of Americans and even to Mark and Kelly. They both knew it was something they had to do and now they had the money. They were finally realizing it didn’t take money to make them happy.

When they were finished and heading back to Ellen’s place, Ellen asked if they could swing by the farm. Ellen left the farm right after Pa died and moved into a small senior’s complex in Madill and since she no longer drove. I had been years since she last visited the place. She had tried to get a few other family members to drive her out there when they visited, but no one seemed to want to look over the old place. A few of her grandsons did hunt there, but they never bothered to ask Ellen if she wanted to visit the place whenever they were in town. While pulling into the driveway to the old farm everyone saw how run down the buildings were after more than a decade of neglect. “No wonder no one wanted this place. The Farm is just land now. You would have to start over from scratch and rebuild everything if you wanted to live out here,” Mark thought to himself.

”Doesn’t this place look just beautiful?” Ellen said with mist in her eyes.

Mark looked at Kelly, and she had the same look in her eyes as Ellen did and a huge smile on her face. “Granny, I haven’t been here in over thirty years. I had forgotten how great the place is,” Kelly exclaimed. At that moment Mark realized they were not seeing the place as it stood today, they were seeing the place as it looked sometime in the past. Ellen was seeing the place when her entire family lived here and she was happy. She saw her husband in the fields, her kids playing in the yard, and her own parents sitting on the porch waiting for the children to come home from school. She was looking past the current state of the farm and remembering what the place used to be like in its prime.

Mark looked at Kelly and wondered what she was seeing. Kelly was seeing the farm as the farm was when she was a kid playing on the old tire swing hanging from the oak tree out back. She could still see her grandparents sitting on the back porch drinking lemonade while watching their favorite granddaughter laughing and playing. Kelly was also seeing the place as it could be with her own kids having as much fun as she did when she was here. Something was pulling at her. Whispering in her ear that this was the place where her family belongs. This was the place they would be protected from the all of the evil that was about to be released on the world. Kelly never had such a strong feeling about something as she did now about how she and her family needed to live here. Her heart was in this old farm, and she wanted the same feeling for her girls.

Both women went from misty to actual tears when they turned around and looked at each other. “Let’s go to Tommy’s right now and fill out the paperwork,” Ellen said.

Kelly just nodded while Mark blinked and wondered if he had spaced out enough to miss an entire conversation. “What paperwork?”

Kelly and Ellen both turned around to look at Mark with big tears rolling down their faces. “Don’t you feel it?” Kelly asked.

“Feel what?”

“I’m home,” Kelly stated. She turned back around to look over the place that had always been her actual dream. A dream she had kept repressed with the fake dreams of money and a lifestyle she had led herself to believe were more important.

“Yes, she is,” Ellen finished. “She’s hasn’t understood it until now, but this place was always hers in some way. She just clicked here when she came over during the summers. Clicked in a way no one but Pa and me did. Everyone else just came out and played during their stays, but Kelly always felt at home and the place felt more complete every time she was here. I had always dreamed she would take it over, but once she moved to the big city I let the dream die. I thought my dream was lost after you two started having kids and making your way in Dallas,” Ellen said, as she wiped her eyes.

“Let’s get this silly old girl over to her lawyer’s office so she can have her long, lost dream come true,” Kelly spoke, as they all headed towards the car.

The drive to the lawyer’s office was a silent one as everyone was lost in their own thoughts. Mark was playing much of the day back in his mind to see if they had pressured Ellen into this choice. When he took a good look at Kelly and Ellen, he knew Ellen didn’t feel pressure and this was the right thing to do. When they walked into the lawyer’s office, Tommy didn’t say anything as he knew the look in Ellen’s eyes from his experiences with his own grandmother. Since he already had the paperwork ready from Ellen’s earlier visits, the only thing he needed was their signatures and to warn Mark and Kelly about the past due taxes. Tommy also felt like he needed to tell them about the county and the IRS not liking the fact that Ellen was giving the farm away. They would need to consult an attorney to figure out what they needed to do about taxes. Ellen looked at him with a “figure it out and let us know” look and gave him a copy of the receipt from the tax payer’s office. Tommy smiled and told her he would handle the county and IRS tax issues when they came up while he was completing his part of the paperwork.  After finishing up, he told Mark and Kelly he would file everything the first thing in the morning. He would get back to them with the rest of the information they needed for any additional taxes. Tommy said they should have a copy of the final deed in a few days. For now, he would give them a copy of everything so they would have proof if they needed it. Ellen looked at them and gave them the key ring she had hidden in her pocket which held all the keys to the various gates and buildings around the place.

“I knew once you saw the place you would fall in love with it again. Take good care of the place,” she said. “I know it will take good care of you and protect you against the things that are coming up the road.”

Mark and Kelly Mark blinked and looked at each other and silently wondered how much she knew about the collapse they both thought was around the corner. They didn’t follow up with her and took Ellen back to her home.  Kelly and her grandmother were having such a good time talking, Mark and Kelly ended up staying at Ellen’s all afternoon and into the evening.  Mark finally made them slow down long enough so they could go back to the café for dinner. Everyone knew right then and there the place would become Mark and Kelly’s special place once they moved up to the farm. Mark and Kelly were just hoping the cafe would still be here by the time they moved up here permanently.

While they were driving back home that night, Mark looked at Kelly and asked, “Do you want to explain to me what happened at the farm?”

Kelly closed her eyes for a minute and looked at him, “I can’t explain it. Something deep down inside of me filled me with this overwhelming feeling of safety. It was like someone whispered inside of my head we would be safe there. I can’t explain it any better than that since I have never experienced anything remotely like it before.” She ended up by saying, “I felt at peace.”

Mark shook his head and said, “Ok.”

After a few minutes of absolute quiet, Kelly got a phone call from her mother. “Did you go to mom’s bank and put money into her account today?” Helen asked her daughter.

“How did you know?” asked Kelly.

“I was looking at her account and saw the deposit,” replied Helen. “She has been a little short lately and we have been trying to put a few dollars into her account so nothing would bounce or not get paid.”

“Granny told us about the back taxes on the farm during lunch and Mark immediately told her that we would pay it off right after lunch.”

“I knew she was behind, but $16,000 worth of back taxes? You put $16,000 into her account. You two have $16,000 that you could spare for that?”

“Yes, mom we do. And it wasn’t $16,000 of back taxes, it was around $6,000. Mark made me put an extra $10,000 so she wouldn’t have to worry about money. She doesn’t know we did this so don’t tell her. And if she ever needs more or if you two ever need more, I expect you to come to us. As long as we have a few dollars in our account no one in this family should have to suffer.”

Kelly heard her mom quietly crying and held the phone for a little while as her own tears started flowing again. After she could hear her mom was back on the phone Kelly said, “Mom, we also signed the paperwork on the farm today. We now own it.”

“You did what? You bought the farm? I thought you couldn’t stand being away from the city. What’s going on with you two lately? First it was the kids and now the farm.”

Kelly let her ramble on for a few more minutes before interrupting by saying, “Mom, why don’t you and dad come over for dinner Sunday.  There is something we need to tell you and I don’t want to do it over the phone tonight.”

“Is everything all right with you two?” Helen asked, with a worried tone in her voice.

“Everything is fine,” Kelly replied. “I’ll explain more Sunday.  Be at our place around seven. Don’t bring anything, just show up.”

“Ok, Sweetie,” replied Helen. “We’ll be there.”

Kelly hung up on her mom and looked at Mark, “It’s time to tell them. They may think we are crazy, but we need to explain what is going to happen over the next few years since it affects them too.”

“I agree. We’ll invite my folks over as well when we pick up the kids.”

The rest of the drive was uneventful after the emotions of the afternoon. Kelly stared out the window at the stars and wished her grandmother would live long enough to see them move out to the farm permanently. Mark stared at the road ahead of him and hoped Kelly and the kids would be as happy on the farm as they were in the city.

They both would get their wish.

Chapter 14

When Mark walked into his office Thursday morning there was already an email from Owen asking him to pop into his office. Mark walked over to Owen’s office and stuck his head in the door and asked, “What’s up?”

“Come in and close the door and I’ll tell you.”

After Mark closed the door and sat down, Owen began, “Where are you on the project plan for the off-shoring?”

“Finished. I’ve also created some supplemental information for you as well. I can give you some more background on the systems if you need it. Why? I thought you didn’t need it until after the first?”

“They moved everything up. I’m supposed to fly to Las Vegas on Sunday night and we are going to start the meeting on Monday. I’m not sure what the rush is all of a sudden. It looks like maybe something’s about to happen.”

“Well, it is almost time for another ‘Computer Glitch’. The fuel shortages almost always happen at this time of the month. I wonder if this one is going to be a big one and they are going to try to figure out a way to hide it.”

“I don’t know,” Owen said. “I just got the email today. I’ve spent all morning scrambling to rearrange my schedule so I can be out of town next week.”

“Do you think this is about the fuel shortage or is it something else? I wonder if they are going to try to jump the schedule up and move us offshore quicker. They’ve haven’t even seen the project plan yet.”

“I don’t know. They are keeping this one quiet. Damian didn’t even know or wouldn’t tell me. I guess I’ll find out Monday.”

“Hey, are you still coming over for the Memorial Day party?” Mark asked changing the topic. “I know Kelly would like to talk to Donna some more about what RJ has taught her.”

“Yep, hopefully I’ll be back by then. I can’t see us going past Friday afternoon.”

“Even if you are not back for whatever reason, we still want the kids and your better half to come over. No reason for them to stay home because Plains has a bee up their butt and you can’t make it,” Mark chuckled.

“I’ll let her know,” Owen laughed. He told Mark that he would look over the material and let him know if there was anything else he needed for the meeting next week.

As Mark was heading for the door he looked back, “I still want to get together and finish the discussion from last week. A lot has changed with us this week and I wanted to fill you in on it.”

“Sure. Maybe we can get together after Memorial Day. There is still a lot I want to tell you as well.”

“Why don’t we have another pool party and everyone can come back over to our place and we pick up where we left off,” Mark said.

Before Mark left Owen’s office he asked, ”Who’s all going to Vegas next week? I have several meetings with Damian, Chris and few others scheduled and if everyone is going to Vegas then my week has pretty much cleared up.”

“All of the C-levels plus a few other lower levels,” replied Owen.

“Mind if I put in a last minute request for vacation next week? I have so much going on that I need a few days to get everything back in order and it looks like everyone will be gone here anyway. “

“Just take the week off. Tell everyone you are off, but don’t actually put in the request. I’ll back you up. Besides anyone who would care or even notice you’re gone, will either be at the meeting or worried about the meeting. No one will pay attention to you being out. Your staff would just assume you are with us since they know how much we rely on your knowledge to get any systems work done.”

“Thanks. Have a great Vegas experience.  Although, the commercial says that everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. I don’t think it should this time. If you know what I mean?”

Owen laughed and waved Mark out the door, “Get out of here while I try to figure out how to take credit for all the work you’ve done on this.”

Over the next two days Owen and Mark worked together to finalize the presentation to offshore the IT department. Mark had put together a great project plan and presentation. All Owen had to do was go over it a few times and have Mark fill in a few spots he thought the other executives would ask about. The background material Mark had created gave Owen enough material to answer almost every question he thought of. Both of them were sure that Owen wouldn’t have to bother Mark next week, so it left Mark free to do whatever he wanted.

During the week when Mark wasn’t working with Owen, he spent time trying to straighten out everything that had been going on with him and Kelly and their preparations. The amount of stuff they needed to do and the short time they had left to get everything done was putting Mark over the edge. There was too much to do and he felt they were fighting an uphill battle since he was constantly adding something else to the list. He finally gave up late Friday night deciding they would do what they were able to over the next two years.  What was done was done and what wasn’t, they would just have to manage once he lost his job.

When Saturday morning rolled around, Mark ate a quick breakfast and started organizing his thoughts for when he had to talk to his mom and dad and Kelly’s parents. The kids finally finished up and went to watch cartoons upstairs and Kelly came into the living room. “You look at little down in the dumps.”

Mark sighed and looked at her, “There is just so much we have to do. It’s like we haven’t done anything over the last twenty years which will help us in this situation. We now have a two year deadline to make up for the last twenty. I’m a little overwhelmed right now trying to figure everything out.” Mark went on and started talking about the farm and its needs. He did not see much of the farm the day they took granny to the farm. He only got a quick glance at the house and barns from the driveway before they left for the lawyer’s office. Mark remembered all the buildings and most of the fences were all dilapidated and he felt like they would have to tear them down and start over.

“Plus,” he continued.  “I think with the amount of work we have to finish on the farm, we are going to have to buy a pickup to replace my car. We need something we can haul stuff in, tow a trailer, and hold the entire family. I looked around and found several used diesel pickups on lots nearby and think we should get one of those dual cab trucks. It would be powerful enough to haul anything we need. Most of them have enough room for 5 adults to sit comfortable and will be large enough for all four of us to ride in at once.”

“Why a used one and not a new one?” Kelly asked.

“If fuel prices keep going up, it will only be useful for a few more years before we can’t afford to drive one of those gas eating monsters around. They get horrible gas mileage, but they are useful for what we need to do. I’ve done a little research on biodiesel, but haven’t convinced myself that I can make enough to keep one of those pickups full enough to be useful. It may be an expensive object sitting in some shed in a few years and rusting away, but we need it today.”

“I also found a few used tractors with front-end loaders and mowers. I think we need one of those as well.” Mark continued on by listing several more items he would need in order to clean up the land surrounding the house and level the house and barns. He told her he estimated to get started on the farm they would have to spend about $65,000. Another $20,000 would be needed to replace the septic system and water well. This would only leave around $15,000 out of their savings left to do everything else they needed to do.

Kelly sighed and sat there for a few minutes before asking, “How much do you think it would cost to get the farm up and running without a house? If we could get electricity, water and the septic fixed we can pull a camper up there in case we wanted to stay several days. I think we can get a used camper for almost nothing today. This would give us something to start with. If things go down faster than we think they will at least we would have water, septic, and something over our heads.”

“So if I had to build a farm without living on the land right away. We would still need the majority of the infrastructure in place to be somewhat self-sufficient in case of a collapse--,” Mark said out loud while talking to himself. He walked around the room thinking for a few more minutes. “I think I might be able to get a small farm up and running by early spring of next year for about $100,000. This would get us everything from the pickup to fencing for the pastures. It wouldn’t make use of all 287 acres. We may not be able to have a herd of cattle or horses, but we could grow enough food to feed everyone. We would be able to have vegetable gardens, fruit orchards, and raise small animals like chickens, rabbits, and goats. This amount would pay for all buildings, fences, equipment, and tools we would need to start the farm. It would also allow us to put in a little extra to maintain the farm after a meltdown. There may still be a lot of stuff I’m not thinking of right now, but those items should only be another ten or so thousand dollars. I think the original figure would even be enough to pay for the gas to go up there and work on the place whenever we have free time. Although, if the gas keeps going up like it has this month, we may be out of luck on that part.” Mark said. He was referring to the fact the price of gas had risen by more than $1 in the last twenty days. The price was supposed to go up another fifty cents right after Memorial Day. He thought it would go up at least another $1 this summer and would not go down in the fall like it usually did after the summer driving season ended.

Mark’s internal dialog stopped when Kelly said, “Look, I know you have taken this whole fuel shortage planning thing mostly on by yourself. I know you know I’m behind you 100%, but it seems to me you are trying to do everything yourself and I’m just here for the ride. Why don’t we divide things up and each do everything on their lists? We can do what we have always done at work and have status reports. We can use these meetings to keep each other informed of our progress and anything we might need that will cost a large amount of money. That is if you trust me to do my part without you looking over my shoulder.”

“Of course I trust you. We might as well make some use of what we have done in the last twenty years. It seems like we will not have many other skills which will be useful in the future. How do you want to divide things up?”

“I want to handle the garden,” Kelly said. “I will work with you to build the garden, but I will handle what we plant. I will also handle the canning and storage and cooking of everything we grow.”

“Really? I didn’t think you like to cook.”

“I’m getting into it. I like how everyone looks when they eat what I cook.”

She thought for a moment and said, “I don’t want to be the one who slaughters whatever we eat, but I’ll put it away and cook it when necessary.”

“Ok. For my part, I will build everything, plan for all the animals, and worry about the disaster stuff as well. I will also worry about all equipment and tools.”

“I want to be responsible for the house as well,” Kelly said. “I don’t know what we will end up with, but I’ll do the research on it.”

“That’s fine, but we will help each other out and learn about what the other is doing. Cross-train ourselves so if you are sick I know how to can whatever needs to be canned that weekend and you can help me build when necessary. I don’t want to fall into the ‘man/women’ roles that had happened in the past. We both should know as much as we can.”

“Deal,” Kelly smiled. “I know you will need the bulk of our savings for the farm and equipment. I will try to figure out the house without using what we have saved so far. How about I give us an eighteen month deadline to figure out the housing situation? If something happens before then, we can commute to the farm and stay in a camper if need be.  If we happen to sell this one soon, we can rent something cheaper and closer to the farm until we lose our jobs. This will allow us to continue commuting to work, but would allow us to save even more money each month.”

“Ok. The difference between our current mortgage payments and the new rent goes into savings for the new house. Plus, anything we make off of the sale of this one will go into that savings account as well,” Mark said.

“I can live with that. I also get the 401ks when we close them out. And if I need to take out a mortgage for a new house, I can as long as I pay it off completely before the eighteen months is over.”

“I’ll agree to that,” Mark said with a big smile on his face. He had felt like a huge load had been taken off his shoulders. Kelly was beginning to be one of his greatest assets.

Kelly looked at Mark and said, “Why don’t you take off and go up to the farm. I know you want to look around and solidify your feelings about the place. Take some time to look over tractors and tools and such while you are there. I want to spend the days with the girls. We need to find work clothes for everyone if they are going to be spending time rebuilding the farm. None of us really have any clothes that would hold up during actual work. All of our clothes are made for style and not for actually doing anything in them. We basically need everything from hats to keep the sun off their heads to work boots and shoes.”

It was the time of year the temperatures were already reaching the upper 80’s. Mark left as soon as he was able to get ready to try to avoid the mid-afternoon heat. While he drove out to Madill, he stopped at a Tex-Mart and bought a GPS unit to mark the perimeter of his new property with GPS waypoints. He wanted to create waypoints for features he found on the land and put all the waypoints into a map of their place with all the features on it. The unit he bought allowed him to download USGS maps and pin his waypoints to those maps to build a detailed map of the farm he could print. He would use the maps to help plan what he would do with the property.

After arriving at the farm and spending some time taking a better look at things, Mark was surprised that the main barn still looked to be in decent shape. He didn’t think the building would be useful for a main barn because of its age. Although, the building did look like it only needed minor repairs to make it suitable for storing the equipment and tools. He was also surprised someone had disconnected the electricity to the other buildings but left it on in the main barn and the well house. This would allow him to have electricity and water during his construction which would make things a lot easier. He took a sample of the water so he could have the water tested. If the water was good, he would not have to rebuild the well. A good well would take a big item off his list of things to do. The other sheds, barns, and the house were total write-offs and he would need to just tear them down and start over. He also remembered he needed to get the electricity changed over to his name and see if there was a past due bill he needed to pay. He searched through the folder given to him by the lawyer and found the information he needed and made himself a note to take care of it early next week.  Mark sat out in his car and started creating lists of supplies he thought he would need to rebuild the farm. He created a list for repairing the barn and for cutting down the weeds and small trees on the few acres surrounding the current home site. He created another list for new fencing and building the gardens. A third list for building animal housing and a chicken coop. He also create a list for items he would need while working on the farm. Mark even created a list of lists so he could track all the lists he had already created. He needed to be organized so he would be able to find the items as cheap as he could.

While driving home, Mark kept passing places selling little metal carports. He wondered if he might be able to figure out how to use those for the most of his outbuildings. Mark thought he would use them for the roof and wall structures, but then fill in the sides to make them useful for storage sheds and barns. He would need to find out how to make the carports more secure against high winds, but was confident he should be able to come up with something. Mark also stopped at a place outside of Madill which sold used tractors and talked to the owner about a few tractors and trailers he had on his lot. Not knowing much about tractors, Mark was happy he did not get the impression the man was taking advantage of him. The owner, Carl, talked to Mark about his plans and actually told him he needed a smaller tractor than the one Mark was looking at. Carl actually told Mark to rent something bigger for the initial build and then purchase a much smaller tractor for his ongoing needs. Mark liked Carl a lot and was so impressed with his honesty. He ended up purchasing a trailer and tractor and arranged for Carl to store them until he could buy a pickup and come back to pick them up. Mark also arranged for the rental of a larger tractor with mower attachment as well as a brush hog to cut down the smaller trees. He ended up renting Mark a large chainsaw and other assorted tools he would need to get the farm cleaned up. Carl gave Mark the name and number of his son who owned a bulldozer and told Mark to call him to arrange to tear down the house and barns. Carl said his son loved driving the thing and tearing up stuff, so the cost would be very cheap. Mark laughed and said he would call him the next week.

Chapter 15

Kelly had a much harder time shopping for the things she wanted than Mark had finishing his tasks at the farm. It seemed to her many of the clothes sold in America were both cheaply made and expensive. After visiting several of her favorite stores, Kelly decided she didn’t know where to go buy clothes suited to the rigors of farm work. Even the children’s clothing she was looking for seemed to be more about flash and less about substance. Her old favorite clothing stores only had clothes suited for business meetings and school activities, not for actual work or rough play. The stores did not have anything that looked like they would hold up to Kelly working in the garden or kids playing in a barn or yard. Yet alone, Mark doing all the things he needed to do around the farm without everything coming apart at the seams the first day.

As the day crept by, Kelly became frustrated with her efforts and was about to give up when she passed a western wear place on the outskirts of the mall. “What the hell,” she thought to herself and pulled into the store. After looking around the store for several minutes, Kelly did find a few items on her list. It was not until she started talking to an older sales clerk that she made any headway. The clerk told her she always shopped for her husband’s gear at either Tex-Mart or an outdoor sporting supply store depending upon who she was buying for. She told Kelly only a few brands would hold up years of manual work. They were expensive, but the price was worth it for items such as coveralls and coats. All the other stuff would be better off bought in multiple pairs at Tex-Mart and you would just expect them to tear up easily. The clerk said not many clothes today would stand up to hard wear and tear. She advised not to pay a cent extra for any name brand except for a Carhartt and a few Levi items. The sales clerk told Kelly if she didn’t want to have to replace her kids clothing every few months, she had better learn to sew. Sewing would allow her to make minor repairs to their clothes before throwing them out.

As she was leaving the store, Kelly wondered if this was something she needed to think about. Clothes would tear up during the rough and rugged life ahead of them and there may be no money to replace them as frequently as she would need to. Should she learn how to sew and patch as much of their clothes as possible to make them last longer? She should stock up pants, underwear, socks, and t-shirts for both trading and to use for her own family. She thought it would make sense to stock up on sewing supplies as well. Buy the girls several sets of clothes in the various sizes they would need over the next few years. She would need to stock up on the repair supplies as well. Shoes would be important, but so would shoe laces. Extra buttons and zippers would be useful to repair clothing which could still be useful. Kelly also thought about how to keep the girls in clothing during their growth spurts. Maybe she could buy several pairs of shoes and boots in all sizes for the girls. If they didn’t need a size, that size could be used as barter in the future. She thought about this more and more as she stocked up at the outdoor supply store and while browsing through the clothing section at Tex-Mart.

While shopping at Tex-Mark, Kelly ran across a shelf full of canning equipment. It didn’t seem to Kelly, she would need a lot of equipment to start. Kelly ended up putting a water bath canner, basic canning supplies, and several cases of wide-mouth pint and quart jars into a shopping cart. She thought she would come back later to buy whatever spices she needed once she figured out what canning recipe she would begin with. Knowing she didn’t have a lot of cooking supplies at home, she went up and down the kitchen isles at Tex-Mart. She filled two baskets full of basic cooking supplies she thought she would need to start cooking at home. Kelly looked at the fruit and vegetables at Tex-Mart, but decided she would make a list of what she wanted to practice on. She would go to whole Foods or the Farmer’s Market to see if they had anything local before buying anything at a chain store like Tex-Mart.

After unloading everything and putting Mark’s stuff on the bed so he could try them on before she washed them, Kelly went to her computer to do some research. She wanted to start creating a list of recipes which might be made with ingredients they grew on the farm. She also wanted to start a collection of basic canning recipes so she could practice with her new canning equipment. She knew there would be no way she would learn enough about canning this summer to put away enough food for a whole year. She wanted to start learning how by practicing with vegetables and fruits she would be able to buy at almost any store.  She wanted to do this now, so she could figure out recipes everyone liked. She needed to get basic methods down while they still had the money and ability to overcome her mistakes. Better to make the mistakes and throw out something when grocery stores are still around than to waste food when food would be hard to replace. She figured she would start on fruits and vegetables she bought from the Farmer’s market this summer as well as any organic items she bought at chain stores. After that, she would move on to items she could get at any store as she expanded her abilities. The store bought items might not be as tasteful or healthy as home-grown or farmer’s market produce, but they would give her a chance to practice. Her internal goal was to practice over the next year and by next summer she would have the recipes down. Once the garden started growing, she could use her own garden along with the local farmer’s markets to supply enough food for a whole year.

Kelly’s research took her much longer than she thought.  She had to keep reminding herself just because a recipe looked good, the recipe might not be a good candidate for her needs. She needed recipes in which all ingredients could be harvested at the same time in her local area. She also needed recipes which would ingredients she could make ahead of time from last year harvest and store. This left out a lot of recipes she found.  Today’s cooks didn’t worry about if lettuce would be available the same time as tomatoes or if you couldn’t get a certain type of apple in your area. The majority of the recipes she found were created in an age in which everything would be available year round. Many of the recipes also included ingredients not native to Kelly’s part of America.  Kelly knew she would have no way of buying exotic items when fuel prices went through the roof. Food grown 12,000 miles away would no longer be available to the average person. She had to discard many recipes she thought would taste wonderful.

As Kelly went through recipe after recipe, she started to wonder about the spices the recipes were using. Exactly what was Cumin or Allspice and would she be able to grow them or find them if the global food distribution system was to shut down. This led Kelly to realize her research needed to take a detour. She needed to understand more about which spices and herbs she could grow in her garden and which ones she would have to store up through bulk purchases. She didn’t want to entirely count something out because it was exotic. She remembered from history books the spice trade was once the engine of commerce around the world. Spices were once very costly as they had to be shipped on slow boats half way around the world. Today, anyone could buy all the spices they wanted to for a few bucks at just about anywhere. A few hundred years ago exotic spices made many families very rich when they imported them. Kelly knew she needed to do something as spices could make or break her family’s new diet. She wanted them to get use to spices and herbs grown locally or stored in bulk. She knew it would be hard to make the transition from their current diet to one they could continue after the meltdown. She didn’t want to cook one bland meal after another and hear everyone whine about missing their favorite fast food or junk food because of the taste. Kelly also made a mental note to add exotic spices on her stock and barter list.

Kelly had her head down and didn’t even hear Mark come home later that afternoon. He startled her when he came up behind her and kissed her neck. “Sorry about that,” he said.

“That’s ok,” she smiled. “I was zoned out there. What time is it?”

“About 5pm.”

“Damn, I need to start dinner,” she said as she got up and started downstairs. She looked over her shoulder and called out, “Let’s go over everything after dinner. We can put a movie in for the kids.”

“Fine with me. I’m going to take a shower. I have been crawling around dusty old barns most of the day. What’s all this?” he looked at his new clothes.

“Stuff for you to wear as you crawl around all those dusty old barns all day. Try them on after your shower, so I can wash them before you use them. Do you realized that the shoes you have on cost $200 and they are just about ruined?”

“I guess designer tennis shoes and farm life don’t go hand in hand,” he grinned as he headed for the bathroom.

After dinner was finished and the kids settled in front of a movie, both Mark and Kelly went outside to talk over their day. “You go first,” Mark smiled.

“Ok. I had a little trouble finding decent clothes at first, but a sales clerk told me about how she shops for her own family. I bought a few things at a western wear place and I found a large outdoors store in Grapevine and was able to get some of the items there. I liked a lot of their clothing. Some of it was expensive so I only bought what I thought we needed which would last a long time. I ended up buying almost everything at Tex-Mart. Mary told me it would be easier to repair most items or buy them as cheaply as possible because they were going to fall apart anyway. She had the same opinion as I do about the quality of stuff we buy today. It is made for show and not to last.”

“Mary?”

“The sales person at the western wear store. She was very helpful and we talked for quite a while.”

“I saw the stuff in the kitchen. Looks like you went wild in the kitchen aisles.”

“I did buy quite a bit, but I think all of it will be handy in the future. We don’t have a lot of cookware around here since we haven’t done a lot of cooking in the past. I want to start learning new recipes, so I figured I need the stuff to cook with. I also figured I needed to start practicing storing all those vegetables and fruits which ripen all at once. I ended up buying basic canning supplies at Tex-Mart, but still need to get a pressure canner and some more cases of jars. Tex-Mart had a few jars, but not enough to store the massive amounts of food you would need from harvest to harvest. I may have to go around to a bunch of them and buy all the cases they have in order to get enough jars for a year’s supply of food.”

“Do you need that many cases?” asked Mark.

“After looking on the internet and reading a few blogs, we are talking about hundreds and hundreds of jars not a few dozen. Some of those new-age homesteaders put away over a thousand jars a year. That sounded like a lot, but when I started doing the math, it wasn’t very much for a family. It will take a few dozen jars just to put away enough jelly and jam for you guys if I can only make jam or jelly once a year. The big part of my day, was not the shopping. It was my internal discovery I needed to create a couple of lists of supplies and barter items. I also found out I need to learn a few things. I started several lists today of items that may be critical to us since in the future. Items we may not be able to find them once the fuel starts running out. Things like shoes for the girls, canning salt, canning jars, etc. The more I thought about it, the more I became concerned. When the depression hits, I won’t be able to find shoes or clothes for the girls. Just keeping the girls in shoes is hard enough now. I can’t image what people will do when buying shoes becomes almost impossible after the meltdown. I guess most kids will run around barefoot like you read about in the history books.”

“I haven’t thought about that,” Mark said. “I think I need to start doing the same thing. I have started creating lists of everything I need to build up the farm. I didn’t look at the items from the standpoint they may be useful for bartering or if they would be hard to replace if broken. I don’t want to buy multiples of everything, but I should buy extra of the items we can trade or I can’t repair. I also need to start learning how to repair the things we are going to buy and if I can stock up on repair kits while they are available. Looks like my list of things to learn has just gotten a little longer.”

“Sorry, I thought of that as well. I am adding sewing to my list. Also, I’ve created a second list of things I need to learn and prepare for – like sewing, cooking, and canning. I’ve never sewed before, but I should be able to teach myself enough to repair some of our clothing. I may not be able to make a shirt from scratch, but I should be able to sew on a button or two. I may see if there is a sewing class somewhere teaching basic sewing techniques. I’m sure the places that sell sewing machines have classes.”

Mark looked at her, “What else did you figure out today?”

“I started a third list of useful items I think we can stock up on and use for bartering. Cheap things, but things everyone uses and will forget to stock up on before it is too late.”

“Like what?” Mark asked.

“Like cheap t-shirts, socks, underwear, sewing needles and thread, canning jars, and even shoe laces. I thought I would buy a couple pairs of cheap tennis shoes for the girls from Tex-Mart in every size I can find all the way up to my size. This will give us something to use for the girls and if we don’t need a size – trade it for something we do need. I also remembered spices and salt were items hard to get in the past. I want to learn how to grow and make what spices I can and stock up on the others. I’ve also decided I would start canning stuff now so I can work out the kinks of the process. I don’t know how to do it, but canning can’t be hard to learn and there were plenty of recipes and tips on the internet. I’ve given myself the next twelve months to learn what I can. Next year I will have the goal of storing all the food we need to eat for a whole year. I will need to be able to plant a garden by next spring, so I can work that into my learning process as well.“

“That shouldn’t be too hard,” Mark replied, “I will put creating the garden on my priority list.”

“I’ve also started a recipe book which uses only the food items we can grow or create from scratch. No ingredients which are imported and we may not be able to get in the future. I want us to start getting used to the foods we will have to eat after a meltdown. I don’t want the new diet to come as a shock to our systems and make us sick. This will give me time to adjust the recipes and work on how to plan out a year’s supply of food at a time.  I need time to make mistakes while there are still grocery stores and restaurants available for those days my experimenting goes wrong. Looks like salad with tomatoes and cucumbers in January will be a thing of the past. Those items do not all ripen at the same time around here and you can’t store them very well unless you want to cook them later.”

“I saw a book on extending harvests past the usual seasons. I’ll see if I can find the book. I’ll help you prepare the garden so we can grow fresh foods as long as possible each year,” Mark said. “This might give us something to eat other than canned corn during the winter months.”

“That might work. We also may be learning to eat sprouts during the winter as a form of salad. It seems to be one of the few items people talk about growing during winter to add a little green to their meals. Sprouts seem to be healthy, too.”

“I don’t know. I was never a fan of sprouts but we’ll take it one step at a time,” Mark laughed. “Come February, I might be craving anything fresh. Even sprouts.”

Kelly just laughed with him and then added, “How was your day?”

“Not bad. Like I had assumed, most of the buildings including the house are a total loss.  I was able to get into the house and there is still some hay in it but not much else. Not even windows. Everything has been removed except the basic floor, wall, and roof. The main barn looks like it is still useable with a little work.  One part of the barn is filled with junk I will have to get rid of, but at least it will give me somewhere to put my equipment. The doors are solid and they even had locks on them so no one should be able to steal anything I leave between visits. I don’t know if I trust it 100%, but for the bigger stuff I think it is safe enough. I did meet the owner of the local tractor store. He seemed to be a wonderful guy and talked me out of the large tractor I was looking at. He told me to buy something smaller and rent a large one for the initial clean up. He also told me to rent the heavier equipment I would need to start the cleanup and I could buy lighter equipment for the long run. I went ahead and bought a smaller used tractor and trailer. I made arrangements for the rental of the larger one and arranged with his son to bulldoze the old house and buildings. He is going to push everything into a large pile that I can either haul off or burn over time.”

“You had quite a day,” Kelly exclaimed.

“I also took GPS coordinates of most of the major buildings, etc. on the farm to start making a map of the place. I didn’t get as far as you did, but I guess I need to start thinking about things a little deeper as well. I’ll start making lists of things I need to stock up on and skills I need to learn.”

“Looks like both of us are going to be busy for the next few years,” Kelly grinned.

“Yeah, hopefully the economy will cooperate with us and give us the time we need to finish getting ready.”

Chapter 16

As Sunday evening rolled around, Mark and Kelly both started to dread telling their parents what they had been going through.  They did not believe what they were doing was wrong, but people the age of their parents have certain beliefs about the infallible nature of America. Beliefs that were valid a decade ago, but were not true anymore due to changes in the way the government runs its business. Mark did not want the evening to turn into arguments with his dad or Kelly’s dad about how he thought America and the world were about to crash. He thought they would be so set on the way life was when they were younger, neither one of them would listen to a thing he had to say. He felt they would accuse him of throwing away everything he and Kelly had earned over the years.  Mark was so sure his parents’ generation believed the American government and lifestyle would be able to overcome anything thrown at it. They would not even want to listen to anyone say differently and might even walk out of his house angry at him.

Once both sets of parents arrived and after reintroducing Mark’s parents, Bill and Sharon, to Kelly’s mom and dad, Helen and Ted, Mark started the conversation. “Kelly’s parents already know some of this, but I wanted you to know we have taken over Kelly’s grandmother’s farm. It is 287 acres near Madill, Oklahoma and we are going to rebuild the place and move out there in the next few years.”

Mark’s mom and dad stared at him for a bit before Sharon finally said, “What do you mean, ‘move out there’? Are you quitting your jobs?”

“That was one of the things we wanted to tell you tonight. A few months ago you might remember Plains Airlines started cancelling a large number of flights and blaming the cancellations on a computer bug,” Mark answered.

“Yes. I remember making a joke about your bug one night when you picked up the kids,” Bill, responded.

“Well, after they started blaming my department, we tore the software apart looking for a bug and couldn’t find anything that was causing a problem. We worked incredible hours trying to find the bug.  We thought the bug was a onetime fluke until they cancelled another round of flights blaming those cancellations on the system again. We never could find anything that should cause flights to be cancelled. All of our emails asking for more information went unanswered by upper management.”

“So, what was the problem?” Bill asked.

“After they cancelled the flights, I had a meeting with the executives and they told me they were going to offshore the entire IT department. I mean, they want to move every server and application to another company. They made noise about trying to find most of my staff new jobs at the airline. I think they are going to let everyone go after the move is complete. They haven’t even discussed moving people to other jobs and have implemented a hiring freeze across the company and closed out whatever open jobs. Anyway, after the meeting, I was told by one of my supervisors the computer bug was a cover story to hide the real reason they had to cancel flights. The real reason was because they could not get enough fuel to handle all the scheduled flights. They made up the excuse of the computer bug because they were afraid a fuel shortage would cause panic with the investors. The company is moving us off-shore so they can buy a few more months of cancelled flights before they need to make up another cover story.”

“What fuel shortage?” Helen asked. “I’ve haven’t heard anything on the news or seen any gas stations closing down or running out of gas.”

“You’re right. Neither have I,” Mark replied. “I didn’t believe it at first either. It wasn’t until I started looking through Plains’ financial systems and found over a dozen months where Plains could not find enough fuel for all the scheduled flights. In some of those months, flights were cancelled with the blame put on something else and some of those months had actual cancellations due to weather or maintenance issues. I saw bids and invoices from multiple fuel suppliers, but they still fell short each month. I’ve also seen the trend of cancelled flights at other airlines. The numbers don’t look like much until you start tracking them and lining up the excuses given with actual weather patterns, maintenance logs, etc. We fly the same planes as everyone else, but ours are not in the shop when another airline announces an across-the-board maintenance problem. The plain fact is Plains Airlines and other airlines around the country cannot get enough fuel to fly their planes as much as they want to.”

“I’ve also done other research on the American and global economy. The research shows there is a definite fuel shortage out there and the shortage is starting to have a dramatic effect on the global economy,“ Mark continued.  “Kelly and I have been looking at this for months and we’ve seen a whole bunch of economic indicators starting to show an economic depression forming. We, along with others, now believe the world’s economy is about to crash and this crash will be severe enough to cause our society to take a few steps back.”

Both sets of parents looked at Mark and Kelly like they were crazy. They kept their thoughts to themselves as Mark started working his way through the same speech he gave Kelly on economic indicators. After spending the rest of dinner and a few hours after dinner working his way through the presentation, Mark was ready to get their views. “Ok. You’ve heard it all. What do you think?”

“I don’t know where to begin, son,” Bill commented. “You’ve just laid out information saying everything we know is about to end. It’s a bit overwhelming.”

“I know. It took both of us a long time before we finally accepted the truth. It goes against everything we have learned and believe, as well as everything the government and news reporters have been telling us for years. You not only have to believe a fuel shortage is about to wipe out our way of life. You also have to believe the news, companies, and government know about the problem, but are lying through their teeth. Or they are clueless about what is happening. Either way, it will make you question what you believe. All I know is Plains Airlines has been lying about a fuel shortage and Kelly’s company is starting to close down restaurants because of lack of business. I’m not asking you to believe right now or even ever. I’m just telling you what we believe and why we are making very dramatic changes over the next few years so you understand our reasons for the changes. You may not believe us, but you need to know why we think we have to make these changes.”

“I believe you,” Sharon said as everyone turned to her with disbelief written on their faces.

“What do you mean ‘you believe them’?” Bill responded.

“I’ve told you before; our retirement has been cut more than once in the past few years, but you don’t listen to anyone if it’s not about sports. I’ve also seen the price of about everything we buy start to creep up and it’s getting harder and harder to make ends meet each month. I don’t know if it’s what Mark is talking about, but there’s something going on besides normal inflation. Besides, don’t you remember me telling you Martha’s son was let go after all those years at the oil company. She said a bunch of people in the field division he worked for were laid off as well. Andy told her they couldn’t find anywhere else to drill for new oil so they cut the whole division. He went all over the world looking for new drill sites and couldn’t find anything. She said he is really worried about the future as the current fields are drying up and they can’t really find any new sources.”

“Ok. Ok. I’m listening now. You said a bunch of people have been laid off because they can’t find new oil sources? What about all that talk about tar sands, oil shale, and deep sea drilling?”

“Martha said Andy told her they did research into those methods and the cost of getting oil using them is so high, no one will be able to afford it. He said most of the oil from those sources has been slated for the military and other government needs. We shouldn’t expect any oil they do find to be available to us. Martha told me Andy is so worried he moved his own family to some small town where they could walk everywhere. I think he started some small grocery store or something that sells only local products.”

“Really? Why didn’t I know any of this?” Bill asked.

“Because it didn’t have anything to do with some sports figure or football team,” Sharon responded back with a tone in her voice. “I’ve also tried to tell you about the other things everyone at my club has been talking about. In the past year, there hasn’t been anyone at the club who doesn’t have a kid, grandkid, or relative who hasn’t lost their job. Almost half of the women there either have kids or grandkids living with them because of the economy. If grandkids are not living with them, they are living with their parents. Even the ones who graduated from good colleges are moving back in with some relative. Most of the elder population has had to move back in with their own kids because of cuts in social security and pensions. I doubt if there are more than ten out of the hundred people in the club who live only with their spouse like we do. Most of the other ones live with relatives for some reason or another.”

“You always look at me funny every time I call the news people liars,” Sharon said, “when they say the economy is recovering and there are plenty of jobs. There may be jobs, but they either don’t pay enough or no one I know seems to be able to find them. ”

“Don’t you think someone would have figured this out and tried to tell everyone?” Helen asked.

“I thought that, too,” Mark replied. “There are people who are trying to tell everyone about an upcoming depression or a financial meltdown.  They are being called a whole lot of different names by the press and government and none of the names are good. I’m probably on some list because of the sites I use for my research. I’m convinced and my boss is convinced. Neither one of us believe our jobs will be around after the offshoring because we don’t think the airline will be around more than a few years before folding. The execs are having some big retreat this week in Vegas to talk things over. I haven’t heard anything back from Owen, but it’s kinda spooky not a single executive or person at the meeting has sent any emails this week. Those guys live for emails and memos.”

“Is that why you two are selling your house?” asked Helen.

“Yes. We are taking a stab at getting the house sold before the meltdown happens. If we can’t sell it soon we are going to walk away from the mortgage. We are so convinced of the upcoming crisis we are going to risk ruining our credit to keep from wasting money on this house. I don’t think the house will be worth anything in the future because the house is too big and uses way too much electricity to heat and cool. No one will be able to afford it except for the rich and they already have their houses.”

“I still don’t know what to say,” Bill said.

Kelly looked at her dad and said, “Dad, you are awfully quite about all of this.”

Ted looked at his wife and daughter. “Well, I’ve been trying to figure out some way to tell you we are turning out just like those people in Sharon’s club.”

“What do you mean, sweetie?” asked Helen.

“I got a letter from the city council in Whitesboro. They are having a lot of financial problems and to prevent bankruptcy they have cut all pensions in half starting next fiscal year.  We only have about four more months before my pension will be reduced so much we won’t be able to pay our bills. I’ve been trying to figure out something, but just can’t.”

Everyone looked at him in shock, and Kelly went up to him and hugged him. “I know how you feel. Why don’t you come back over on Tuesday and we can work through everything. You are not going through anything Mark and I have not already figured out and started planning for.”

After the announcement, everyone was ready to head back home for their own private discussions. Mark and Kelly knew the night did not go as bad as they had thought it might and at least his mom and her dad were on their side. All they needed to do was get his dad and her mom on the same page as the rest of them.

Chapter 17

The Memorial Day party went well. Mark and Kelly were so busy entertaining everyone they did not get a chance to go into any detailed discussions on their beliefs and plans with anyone at the party. They did manage to talk to RJ and set up an appointment to meet him at his dojo next Saturday to discuss self-defense. They would bring up the collapse and the need for guns when they were alone with him. Mark and Kelly wanted a day free of worries or having to explain how their whole world was going to end in the near future. Mark did manage to talk to Owen for a few minutes as Owen and his family were leaving the party. Owen didn’t say much, he asked Mark to come in early on Tuesday and they would talk then.

“How’s it going?” Mark asked as he stepped into Owen’s office early Tuesday morning.

“Not so well. How’s everything going with you and Kelly?”

“As good as can be expected. So I take it you are about to give me some bad news,” Mark said with a frown.

“The board has approved the IT department move. They already lined up a provider and want it done by the end of the year. The CEO is going to make the announcement Wednesday in an all-hands-onboard meeting and put out a press release after the announcement. I figure we have about seven or eight more months before we are gone. “

Mark whistled, “That’s fast. I thought we would have at least another twelve to eighteen months of hanging around.”

“Well, you can blame yourself. You put together such a good plan, with the whole virtualization idea, they wanted the time table moved up,” Owen said with a grin.

“Ok. Ok. My bad. Did it take all week to make the decision?”

“Not really. I forwarded your presentation to Damian and the decision was made before we even got there. Damian told everyone at the meeting on Monday about the IT move and the new time table. There was no discussion and no push back. They accepted it without commit.”

“What? This company does nothing that fast. It took them six months to decide if they should give out red or blue napkins with the first class meal. What’s going on?”

“The rest of week is what was scary,” Owen continued. “After the move is completed, the airline is going to announce the outsourcing of all back office departments, not just us. Human Resources, finance, planning, training, scheduling, reservations, even the cleaning staff will be gone by FY 2015. Anyone not under a union contract will be let go after their departments are out-sourced.”

Mark looked at Owen with a blank look on his face as Owen continued, “It gets even worse. They are going to drop all routes that cannot be done with the fuel efficient 787s we purchased. If the route doesn’t require that size plane or can’t be adjusted to accommodate the plane, it will be dropped. All smaller planes are gone, along with the routes they covered. Only large airports and population centers will be covered.”

Mark turned white in the face and creaked out, “Everything. Plains will end up being half the size it is today.”

“More like a quarter of the size it is today,” Owen corrected. “I spent all week with a bunch of people who told me I will not have a job in eight months.”

“And you just told me the same thing,” Mark said.

“Yea, they also want to try to bust the unions. They will use a bankruptcy and the reorganization of the routes as an excuse to break the pilots and attendants unions and outsource the airplane maintenance staff completely. They do not even want them around since an outsourcer is already lined up to take over the maintenance. Hell, they are even going to get rid of the building and move to something much smaller.”

“Damn, will anything be left? The stock will take a nose dive when the bankruptcy is announced. Everyone will not only lose their jobs, they will lose retirement pensions, and the value of their stock portfolio. And they’re not telling anyone below your level are they? ”

“No, they understand it will cause a mass exodus and end the airline before they can gracefully shut down most of it. We spent the week trying to figure out how to do this without it getting out and getting us in trouble with the SEC or ruining everyone’s stock options. They think they have a plan.” Owen continued, “There were several ‘off the record’ discussions on how the people at the meeting could sell their stocks before the bankruptcy. They don’t want to lose money after the bankruptcy is announced, but they do not want to get busted for insider trading. That is why they are going to take two or three years to shut things down. This gives everyone at the meeting a chance to ‘schedule’ their stock sells with the SEC and not raise suspicions.“

“What’s going to keep you quiet if you and a few others will lose your jobs as well?” Mark asked.

“A huge cash bonus when we are let go. They showed us a piece of paper with the amounts they are promising us if we stick around and it equals to two years of my salary. The bonus will be large enough most of the executives and people like me could retire and not worry about finding new jobs. At least that is what they are promising. I don’t trust them so I am preparing a ‘keep your word or I’m going to spill’ package over the next few months.”

“And the rest of us are screwed. Those son-of-a-bitches,” Mark cursed out. “After all these years I have given them. All the family time I missed because I was working fifty, sixty, and even seventy hour weeks to get the job done.  I stuck with them through a bankruptcy that left my retirement accounts ravaged. I stuck around when others bolted for better paying dot-coms a few years ago. I know I make a good salary now, but back then others doing the same job I did left and made 30-40,000 more than I did and now I’m going to be left high and dry without anything to show for it.“

Owen let Mark settled down before he continued, “I understand. I’m trying to figure out how to get the word around without stirring up anything, but no one is listening. Sometimes I think I should start firing people without cause so they can at least sue and get something from it. All our people will be given walking papers one day without anything as a ‘thanks for working here’ present. Not even severance packages unless they have something in their contracts.”

“Like that happens here. This is a right-to-work state so no one except executives and union members can count on a contract to help them during times like this,” Mark countered. “I can tell you one thing. Don’t look for me to be here more than a few hours a week. What little work I have left to do before being kicked out will be done from home. I have about seven months right?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve already done the planning. I will kick off this move and disappear until someone notices. I’ll do what little I have to in order to keep the move somewhat on schedule but nothing more.”

Owen looked at him and said, “Fair enough. I doubt if anyone will notice. Damian is going to resign this week and take the fall for the computer bug. They have given him enough of a cash bonus he bought a house in the Bahamas and is going to move there next month. Even when they find out he lied about everything, he will be out of the country. You are looking at the new CIO for all it’s worth. There will be no one here who will even realize you are not working the next seven months. Your staff will think you have moved up a notch and are spending all your time in executive row. They will not even know you are just buying your time at home.”

“I’ve already started dumping my stocks. I don’t trust them on the bonus thing, so even being the new CIO I’m going to do as little work as possible. I’m going to ride things out as well. Even if you came in, I doubt if you would see me here. I’ve got seven months more or less and I’m going to use it to get the farm up and running to its full potential. This is it for me. I’m done with corporate America. Even if the world doesn’t end like we both know it will, this is my last job. I’m going to spend the rest of my life on the farm enjoying my wife and kids.”

Mark just grinned and Owen asked, “What?”

“Kelly and I took over her grandmother’s 287 acre farm in Madill. I’ve already started the cleanup and I plan on being done by this time next year. I have the same plans as you do. I might have to get some type of job somewhere in the future, but it will not be anything which interferes with my family and life.”

Mark and Owen ended up spending the rest of the morning discussing the farm and the financial collapse. They did not even notice they skipped several meetings each one had on their schedule. Apparently no one else noticed either as they were not disturbed with requests to join any other meetings. At lunch time, Owen looked at Mark and asked him if he wanted to go out for lunch.

“I thought you never went out for lunch?” Mark responded.

“I don’t usually, but I have something I want to talk about and I don’t want to do it here. There’s a small organic place up the road that is pretty good. I think they are the only place in the DFW area which sources their food from local growers.”

“Ok, let’s go.”

After eating light lunches of locally grown vegetables and meat, Owen looked at Mark, “I wanted to talk to you some more about my plans for when things fall apart. I know you talked to RJ and are going to see him on Saturday. I wanted to fill you in on a few things before you went to his dojo.”

Mark thought it was strange Owen already knew they talked to RJ but didn’t say anything. “Ok.”

“I’ve already told you about my change a few years ago due to my father’s death. What I didn’t tell you at the time is both Donna and I were studying at RJ’s dojo at the time. One night, I ended up telling him the same thing I told you. He looked at me and began telling me about a community he had started about fifteen years ago. RJ said when he came back home to start his dojo after working overseas, he started discussing his concerns with a few students. One thing led to another and soon he had over one hundred people in his discussion groups. Apparently, there were quite a few of his students who felt like the world had started going to pieces. They felt everyone needed to be prepared for the day society started to fall apart. The actual membership changes every few years because some of the members become more radical and moved on to militias and more extreme survivalist groups. Other members drop out after being lured by big salaries and fancy homes in the city. Over time a small group of about thirty members decided they were ready to do more than talk about things and wanted to form their own survivalist group. They decided they didn’t want the structure and risks of a traditional survivalist group as many of them believed in different versions of the future. Some believed in a downturn and hard times like we believe in, while others believed in a complete collapse of all society with things going back to the feudal times. They believe they will be fighting armies of bad guys every other day. Some believe if they want to keep their families from becoming slaves to some warlord, they need to be prepared to fight it out. Luckily, they are mild enough they’re tolerant of the rest of the group who only believe we need to become homesteaders to survive the future. The structure they came up with is more of a mutual support society than anything else. They wanted everyone close enough together to act as a group, but everyone is free to do what they want. There is no formal structure or leadership and no formal requirements. After forming their group everyone decided to start buying land around Madill. The land was cheap and met their needs. It is close enough to the DFW area you can still work and live in the city.”

“I would have thought they would buy land far away from any city. What is the common belief ‘six hours drive away from a city of any large size’?”

“A few did and left the group, but the rest talked about it and realized all of them still needed jobs in town. They couldn’t afford to retire and live on the retreats full-time. If the retreats are too far away, it would be too hard to drive up and do a few things after work or on the weekends. My place would still be empty land if I had to drive all the way to Kansas every time I wanted to do something. Having a retreat in Madill allows us to take care of animals and gardens even though we are not living there.”

“Your place?” Mark interrupted. “No wonder you and Donna looked funny when I mentioned Madill. How long have you been a member of the group?”

“I joined the group right after my discussion with RJ. The farm we talked about is west of Madill on Linn Rd.”

“You’re kidding,” Mark interrupted. “Our new place is on Bowlin Rd and one side borders Linn Rd. Where exactly are you?”

After telling Mark where he lived and asking him the same question, Owen knew exactly where Mark’s property was. He drove by it every time he went to the farm. He told Mark his property was a few miles to the west of Mark’s and there were three other families in the group within walking distance to both their places.

“Kelly is going to be amazed when I tell her about this.”

“So is Donna. She’s starting to think of you two as friends and will be thrilled to know we may be spending the rest of our lives down the road from each other.”

Owen went back to their main discussion by saying, “As I was saying. Our community is not a typical survivalist group. We do not all live together or plan on living together after the meltdown and we do not have a leader. Everyone is free to do what they think is necessary for their own survival and we encourage everyone else to copy as much from each other as possible. We don’t force you to learn to defend yourself. If there is ever a group of criminals in your area, we would not guard your farm if you have not tried to defend yourself first. We have several ex-military and law enforcement members and they are more than willing to train others or come to their aid if something is happening. You have to make the initial effort to defend yourself before calling them. Our main purpose is mutual support. If someone comes up with an idea, they present it at one of the meetings and others agree with the idea they meet afterwards. If you do not agree or do not want to do what they come up with, you don’t. No one forces you to do anything.  We have sub-groups meeting and training for various things: militia tactics, emergency care, communications, herbal medicine, self-defenses, etc., but you are not forced to join any one of them. Many of us do attend as many meetings as possible in order to better prepare ourselves for problems, but there is no ‘attendance’ taken.”

“So how many people are involved?” Mark asked.

“We have around fifty families with land around Madill. Another ten families living in Madill but do not have land. Most of the families with land are going to have relatives move in with them when things go south. One of the members is a retired army colonel and he will have around 600 people living on his ranch if everyone makes it. All-in-all we will probably end up with close to 2,000 people living either in Madill or on land west of Madill.”

“2,000!” Mark exclaimed. “That’s a lot of people to try to get to live together.”

“It is,” responded Owen, “but you have to remember a few things. The majority of those people have been trained by RJ or one of RJ’s students. They have been picked for certain reasons and everyone brings some unique skills to the overall group. We are not bringing in anyone off of the streets who is willing to put up with us. Everyone, including those living on the individual farms undergo a background check before they are allowed to be included in the communities programs. If you want someone to live on your land and the person does not pass their background check, you can leave the community or not allow them on your land. Whichever one of those solutions you prefer.”

“What would be a reason someone would not be included?”

“Drug convictions. Felonies. Anything we think would make the person unsuited to live around others without causing problems. We’ve asked members to leave because they became controlling and would not stop trying to ‘run everything’ or became angry when they didn’t get their way. We don’t have enough time or resources to put up with other’s self-important attitudes. Because of our training with RJ, we all tend to think and act alike. Yes, there are a few differences, but so far the differences are not far enough apart it would fracture us. The ex-colonel, Andy Brown, and his ranch hands do put on quite a show when they are all decked out and patrolling the area. Andy is the unofficial military officer of the group and there are several other small groups as well. Fred Williams has about fifty people on his farm who were in the military or are law enforcement officers. Fred and Andy have divided up the area and will help secure different pieces of the community. In fact, Fred’s ranch is north of our land. We should go over to his ranch one day and let me introduce you to him so you can meet him.  He and his group will be one of the primary responders if anyone in our area puts out a call for help.”

“You said most of the members have skills you want them to use or train others in. It sounds like you are recruiting me and Kelly to join the community. What skills do we have that you need?”

“We are recruiting you. It’s already been discussed and RJ, Donna, and I will sponsor your membership. While is not a guarantee of membership, you still have to be investigated, but it should help you become a member at the next meeting.  Membership is voted on by those who attend the meetings. We feel we need Kelly’s HR skills to start putting together better rolls and member documentation. We have dozens of members who are being left out because of our growth in the last few years. We need her to organize everything like she would in an HR department.”

“We’ll have to ask her, but I’m sure it would be acceptable. What about me? What do I have to bring to your table?” Mark asked.

“Your attention to details and planning skills,” Owen responded. “We need someone who can go around to all the different farms and go over their emergency plans and long-range plans. Someone who can take those plans and then poke holes into the plans like you did a few years ago with the DR plans we had the consulting firm create.”

“That was easy, those guys didn’t do a good job,” Mark interrupted.

“Maybe not, but you are the only person who caught they were missing a lot of stuff. You may not know it, but you do it all the time. You seem to come up with the minor things blowing other’s plans all to hell. We want you to do that for the community.”

“I don’t know as much of the survival stuff as you or the others do. How would I catch something you wouldn’t?”

“Your inexperience is a plus. Because you are inexperienced, you don’t assume anything or take something for granted. I’ve heard some of your plans so far. You’ve caught things I haven’t caught because I assumed something would work or be there when in fact it may not be.”

“Ok, I can buy that. What do I need to do now?”

“Talk to Kelly and if she agrees with you about joining the community, tell RJ when you see him. I doubt if the investigators we have will turn up something to keep you from being a member.”

“I’ll do it when I get home. What about you? What are your skills you bring to the community?”

“I’m a communications buff. I help everyone with their radio equipment so they will be able to talk to each other if the phone systems go down. I also work with a few other members on securing our communications from prying eyes. We have an encryption system in place for communications we do not want others to read.”

“Like what? Secret bunkers or something?” Mark chuckled.

Owen looked at him with a serious look on his face and replied, “Yes. We have certain items hidden the government wouldn’t want us to have, but we feel are necessary for our own safety when the government leaves us high and dry. Those items are nothing the rest of community wouldn’t agree with, if you asked them. We want some explosives around to defend ourselves or blow up a bridge or two if they are allowing us to be overrun with refugees or criminals. Things like that. Also, we have a large amount of medical supplies cached. Many of us are afraid if the government found out about them, they would try to confiscate them for their own use and not ours. There have already been presidential executive orders signed by recent administrators allowing the government to take about anything they want from private individuals during times of crisis. We don’t want them to come and take everything away from us that would allow us to live safely after a meltdown.”

“I didn’t know about those orders. I might want to build a few hidden storage areas on my farm as well. Hide a few things from anyone who wants to take stuff away from me. I’m not going to be stingy with someone who is in trouble. I plan on sharing as much as I can. I’m not allowing someone to take something one of my girl’s needs or Kelly needs because they think they are authorized to do so by some government flunky.”

“That’s the way the rest of us feel as well. We are willing to share the majority of our stuff with others, but all of us keep some things hidden from everyone else. Most of us are afraid some level of government will try to raid every house and farm in the county to confiscate goods for their own use. We are not going to allow that to happen.”

“What else do I need to know? Sounds like you are just scratching the surface.”

“I am. RJ will fill you in on some more when you talk to him. Once you are official, I will tell you more and start introducing you to members of the community. Some of them have small businesses we order supplies through. This allows us to get the supplies at cost plus taxes. Using our members’ businesses will save you a lot of money when you are first starting out. Also, we all have a little extra seed or animals we will give you or sell you very cheaply so you can get good quality stock for your farm.  You may not realize it, but the majority of the animals you would try to buy may not do well on the land without a lot of feed and medicine. The animals you would get from us have been raised on pasture like you will have and are suited for the area. Helps to start right and not have to adjust the genetics of your animals so they can live with the weather in southern Oklahoma. Certain breeds seem to do better and tend to live just fine on our lands without babying them.”

“You’re right, I’ve haven’t taken that into account. I’m still thinking like a city person who thinks a cow is a cow or a pig is a pig. I’ve haven’t thought about the fact some breeds would not do well in our heat or during a drought.”

“Right. Same thing with the vegetable seeds and fruit trees. We can start you out with seeds from plants which are suited to our weather. Don’t get me wrong, I am always trying out new varieties, but it does seem like a handful of types grow in our area with no help at all. You might as well build your garden and future diet around food that does not take extreme amounts of care to keep alive during one of our hot summers. Hot and dry will kill most plants, but why not grow things that live the longest under those conditions.”

“Another thing I haven’t even considered. I was going to buy some heirloom seeds from a few catalogs and plant them. I haven’t even considered it would take a few years before I had a line of plants that survives our climate better than other plants would.”

“A lot to take into account, huh?”

“Yes, sir. Makes me want to laugh at all those ‘experts’ who think you can leave your house and run out to the country and set up shop when the meltdown occurs. They don’t even have a clue about the amount of work it would take to get everything up and running. Nor do they know enough to keep it running when you can’t drive to the nearest Tex-Mart for something when you make a mistake. I guess that is one of the underlying problems with everyone today. Everyone is so arrogant about their abilities and so clueless about what it takes to do stuff. They think they can do something because someone they think is beneath them makes it look so easy.”

“I know. I’ve run across those types of people a lot lately with the way everyone is raising their kids. Someone right out of college who has read a book or two often think they know everything. They just don’t know enough to know that they do not know enough, if you know what I mean.”

“Yep,” Mark replied. “That is one of my favorite sayings, ‘You don’t know enough to realize you do not know enough’. I say this to people all the time.”

“I guess we better get back to work and act like we care. Although, I doubt if anyone there has a clue we have been gone most of the day.  They are all too busy trying to jump ship with their stock options intact to care about anything else is going on. These next few months are going to be a charade. We know things are going to be closed up, but can’t act like it now. Fun, Fun, Fun,” Owen said while rolling his eyes.

Chapter 18

That evening when Mark arrived home, he told Kelly everything said during lunch. It did not take her long to agree with him about joining the community Owen told him about. She thought they should bring the community up again when they talked to RJ on Saturday. Kelly reminded Mark, her parents were coming over for dinner to discuss the farm and dad’s retirement. Mark didn’t even have to think twice before asking Kelly to bring up the idea of her parents selling their house and moving out to the farm. Maybe, they could move into Mark and Kelly’s house until they arranged something at the farm. No reason not to make use of all the space they had until they sold the place.

After eating a great home-cooked meal, Kelly’s parents told her they were amazed at her new found cooking skills. Kelly replied cooking was part of her new life. Mark excused himself and went upstairs to start the kids on a movie. He wanted to get out-of-the-way until Kelly could get her dad to start discussing the retirement issue.

“Dad? Do you want to talk about the financial problem you brought up last weekend?”

“I don’t know what to say? The city slashed my pension and what they are going to leave me with is not enough to pay our bills. I’ve been thinking it over ever since I got the damn letter and I don’t know what we are going to do. I spent fifty years with them and never thought I would need anything else other than my pension. I have nothing else saved. Without that pension, there is nothing.”

Kelly and her dad talked a little more about the situation. He soon opened up about some of the ideas he had about what needed to be done to help them survive. Kelly’s mom rolled her eyes at some of the ideas because at their age there would be no way they could start a business or find new jobs. The only thing she could see would be to move into the smallest rental they could find and try to live off of Ted’s reduced pension. She was surprised when Kelly said, “Why don’t you two sell your house before it’s too late and move in here?”

“What? You don’t want us to move in here. You two have enough going on without having us in your hair,” Helen said.

“Yes, we do, but it doesn’t mean we don’t want you,” Mark interrupted them as he came into the room.

“Mark’s right. Not only do we want you to move into here right away. When we sell this place and move out to the farm, we want you to come with us. You can move out to the farm as soon as we get the land ready. Use the money you make from your house to build something small out there. We’ll join you as soon as we can.”

“Isn’t that a little extreme,” Helen said. “I’m sure the city will come around and raise Ted’s pension back up. This is just a little bump in the road.”

“Mom, don’t be too sure of that. Like we were trying to tell you on Sunday, we think things are going to get a lot worse. Nothing will get better. Dad’s pension will not be raised back to the level you are used to. I bet the next letter you get will be in less than a year. It will tell you they are cutting the pension even more or doing away with it all together.”

“They’re right, Helen,” Ted said. “I talked to Jim and he said the new guys being hired in are not even offered a pension. They have to make due with one of those 401ks and social security when they retire. Jim also said anyone with less than fifteen years of service have already lost their pensions. Those guys have to struggle to start paying social security and build up their 401ks before they can retire. I was the last group of workers to retire with a pension and I’ll be damn lucky if I get to keep it.”

Helen sat with tears in her eyes and said, “What will we do, Ted? How will we live?”

“We have to trust Kelly and Mark. It seems they are some of the few people to have put this together enough to start thinking about the failure of America. It’s hard to accept, but they may be right and America might not exist in the next decade. It may only be a fantasy to our politicians in the next few years and dead after that.”

“What will we need to do?” Ted asked.

Mark and Kelly talked to her parents for a few hours. In the end, everyone decided Ted and Helen would put their house up for sale and start to cut their expenses to the bone. Helen has some ideas about how to build something at the farm. Helen and Ted always wanted to travel in their RV full-time. She figured if the RV was good enough for them when traveling, it would be good enough for them until they could get something else figured out. Mark and Kelly also brought up the community Owen had told Mark about and this shocked both Ted and Helen. They had a hard time believing so many people thought the same way Mark and Kelly did about the future. They sat amazed when Mark told them about the thousands of people who would be living in their area. They did not believe him when he said there were millions of Americans who thought the same way and were preparing for a meltdown. To Ted, it seemed only his generation still believed in America and Mark and Kelly’s generation had given up on the promise of a better life. Mark agreed with him and showed him web site after web site with facts and figures showing the decline was happening and how it was too late to stop it. Mark said all he and many others wanted to do was survive the initial meltdown in good enough shape they could help rebuild later. Mark showed him web sites showing how people were trying to save as much knowledge as they could. They were putting away tools and equipment so when the world stabilized after the meltdown, they could reintroduce many of the advantages our society had over earlier societies. He ended up showing Ted and Helen a web site in which the author had spent years trying to figure out how to rebuild a computer manufacturing plant from scratch. This guy had enough old manufacturing equipment stored in his shelter he could rebuild large but working computers and hook them together with a wireless network. He was ready to become a computer titan when most of the world would still be wondering how to find their next meal.

“A little ambitious, isn’t he?” Ted laughed.

“Yeah. He might be on to something, but I think it will be a bit before people need computers again. I wish he would put his energy into keeping medical equipment up and running. It would be nice to have functional operating rooms during the whole time.”

Helen and Kelly went up to give the girls their baths and put them to bed.  After they left the room, Ted looked at Mark and said, “There’s going to be a lot I don’t get, isn’t there? Why would anyone worry about not having hospitals available? But when you really think about it, why would I assume anything we have today would be available?”

“I know. It takes some getting used to. I’ve found people who have prepared for everything from building light-weight cars running on moonshine to trains using steam. Things they would love to use today but can’t because of one regulation or another. Our problems would be solved if the regulations just went away and let people be creative again.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little harsh?”

“Ted. There are hundreds of thousands of people waiting for this meltdown. They think the government has gotten way out of hand and they are hoping they government will collapse. They want to build everything back up from scratch, but at a reduced level. It is too hard to get things changed today because of the way politicians are entrenched, so if government collapsed, all politicians are fired and we can start over.”

“You believe that?” Ted asked.

“I said many people believe that. I tend to side with them, but haven’t crossed the line hoping things will happen. I still hope we’ll spend all this time preparing and nothing will ever happen. I hope after I lose my job at Plains, something else will pop up quickly. I’m preparing for the worse, but still hoping for the best.”

Kelly popped back into their conversation by saying it was getting late and Ted and Helen should come back over on Friday night so they could go over everything again. Kelly told her mom she would call the real estate agent in the morning to come over and look at their house. She could tell her mom wasn’t ready yet, but Ted jumped in and said that would be fine.

As they were preparing for bed, Mark looked at Kelly and said, “Now, if we could just get my parents on board like your parents are we would be set.”

“Your mom seemed to be agreeable.”

“Yea, but my dad is not. He’s still old school and will need a lot more convincing.”

“Once my parents put their house up for sale and start making plans for moving in here or on the farm, we can have the conversation with your parents. Maybe my dad and your dad can talk. Someone his own age might have a better time convincing him than we will.”

“That’s a good idea. Damn, no wonder the community wanted you. I guess I’m lucky they need you so bad they are willing to drag me along for the ride,” he laughed.

“Smart ass,” Kelly said as she turned off the lights.

Chapter 19

The rest of the work week was busy for Mark. Plains Airlines announced their CIO was stepping down due to the ongoing computer bug and Owen would fill in as interim CIO until a new CIO could be hired. Owen and Mark announced to Mark’s team they were starting a project to virtualize every server they had. They couldn’t publicly announce the entire department would soon be out-sourced. Although, when a few staff members talked to Mark after the announcements he did not lie and told them it was going to happen soon.  Mark figured word would get around about the short time-frame. Some of the staff needed as much time as they could get to have a job lined up before being let go at Plains. Mark did not want to imagine his staff’s kids going without food because he didn’t let their mom or dad know what was coming down the road.

Mark also spent several days with Owen interviewing project managers who would be responsible for the virtualization project and the eventual off-shoring project. They both wanted someone as experienced as possible because neither Mark nor Owen wanted to be involved in either project.  They both felt like it was hard enough to come to work each day with the knowledge of the upcoming out-sourcing. They knew it would be almost impossible to come to work each day and face the people they would have to get rid of in a few months.

Kelly had a busy week as well. Texas Restaurants announced they were going to shut down nearly thirty-five percent of their restaurants. Both the Texas Steak and the Upper Crust Gourmet Pizza chains were being closed down by the end of the year. Kelly was put in charge of trying to figure out how to let over six thousand people know they would not have jobs after the holidays. She started to understand what Mark had been going through lately and dreaded the next six months. It did not take her long to start seeing the faces of children on Christmas morning who didn’t get presents because she had fired their mom or dad.

Saturday morning, when they pulled up to the gas station they found the price of gas had gone up over a dollar a gallon. “Did you see anything about this?” Kelly asked Mark as they pulled up next to the pump.

“One of the sites mentioned they thought the price would rise a little because of a storm in the gulf, but not by a whole dollar overnight. There has to be something more going on. I bet if we look at the web tonight we’ll find out why.”

“Yeah. Someone is sure to be all over this by tonight. Still doesn’t help us today. If someone had said something, we could’ve bought gas yesterday and saved twenty-five dollars.”

“Guess we will have to get used to this. I have a feeling this is just the start. I bet the price of gas will go up by at least a dollar each month for the rest of the year. We’ll probably see ten-dollar gas by the end of the year.”

“Are you sure this is the right address?” Kelly asked as Mark pulled into the parking lot of a large warehouse.

“This is the address he gave me. I wonder if he just rents a spare room in whatever business is there to save money.”

“Maybe, but we’re going to have a hard time finding a parking spot, the lot’s full.”

“Yeah. I wonder if it’s like this all the time or if something special is going on with whatever business owns that warehouse.”

They ended up finding a parking spot in the back of the lot. After walking into the door of RJ’s dojo, they were shocked to see the dojo took up the entire warehouse. From the front door, Mark and Kelly could see over a hundred people formed into smaller groups doing some form of exercise or martial arts.

“Can I help you?” a young woman asked them as they stood there and watched as much activity on the floor as they could.

“Yes,” Kelly recovered. “We’re here to see RJ.”

“Is Master RJ expecting you?”

“Hi, Mark. Hi, Kelly. And these two must be Cheyenne and Dakota?” RJ said as he approached them from an office door on the right. “Welcome to our dojo. Let’s go into the office and talk.”

“Thank you, Lisa,” RJ said as he led Mark and Kelly into his office.

“You’re welcome, Master,” Lisa replied. “Welcome to the family, Mark and Kelly.”

As they were walking into the office, Mark let out a whistle. “Not what I expected.” He said as he took in the decor of the room.

“How’s that?” asked RJ.

“Your office looks like a garden patio and not an office. It’s hard to tell we are not outside.”

“I know. It took me a while to get the plants just right and the lighting to look just so, but I think the space accomplishes it’s goal,” replied RJ.

“Which is?” Kelly asked.

“To make me forget that we are actually in a large metroplex full of people who do not care about anything but themselves and the stuff they can buy.”

Lisa walked in with a tray of tea and RJ asked her if she could take Cheyenne and Dakota out into the dojo and show them around. He asked Kelly if it was ok if they could sit in with some of the children’s groups training that morning.

“Which groups?” Kelly asked not sure if she wanted her kids to be put into training right away and get hurt.

“Don’t worry. Sensei Martha is training a group of five-year olds gymnastics now. Learning how to control your body is a big part of what we teach here.  I think Dakota would love to learn how to do flips.”

Dakota’s eyes lit up as she started to beg Kelly to let her go. “Ok. That’s fine,” Kelly responded.

“What about me?” Cheyenne interrupted before Kelly could ask about her.

“Sensei Tom is starting a class of eight to ten-year olds in Tai Chi this morning. It is their first lesson.”

“What is Tai Chi?” Cheyenne asked.

“Let’s say it’s a form of warm up like a slow dance. I think you’ll like it once you start,” replied RJ.

“Mommy, can I go?” Cheyenne begged.

“Of course.”

“Lisa, would you be kind enough to take Dakota and introduce her to Sensei Martha and take Cheyenne and introduce her to Sensei Tom?”

“Of course, Master RJ. I would love to.” Lisa escorted Cheyenne and Dakota to the two groups to start their training while Mark and Kelly stayed behind to talk to RJ.

“It seems like we have a lot to talk about,” RJ began as he poured everyone a cup of tea. “Would you like to take a tour of the dojo first or talk more about the community Owen told you about?”

“Why don’t we tour the dojo. The dojo looks impressive from what we saw from the front door. To be honest, we were expecting one of those little rooms in some strip center like most of the other places we see,” Mark said.

“Thank you. It’s taken me a few decades to build up to this. I actually started out in my garage and built my dojo up from there.”

“You’ve done a great job,” Kelly commented.

“Thank you again. My philosophy is it is not the place that matters but what you teach that matters. We are different here. We just do not teach a form of martial arts and nothing else. In most dojos, you go in and start learning Karate, Taekwondo, or Aikido right away with the goal of working yourself to a various degree or belt color. Here, we strive to teach you many things by taking a holistic approach to training. You will learn to increase your health through stretching, exercises, diet, and alternative medicine. Your mind will be strengthened with various forms of meditation and mental discipline.  You will increase your physical self with strength training, agility exercises, and stamina training. You will increase your communication skills by teaching others what you have been taught. And finally, you will learn to defend yourself and others through various forms of martial arts. We are not all about punching and kicking, we are more than that. Our goal is to create a better human being by training them to respect themselves and others.”

“Well, it seems to be working. There must be at least a hundred people training now,” Mark exclaimed.

“Closer to one hundred and twenty,” RJ replied. “We have a membership of over two thousand who come here to train. This place operates twenty-four hours a day. “

“Really,” Kelly said with a surprised look on her face. “Two thousand members.”

“Yes. Like I said, our training is not about punching and kicking. Our teachings are not just around a particular form of martial arts. We teach the person and people seem to respond to that. We even have classes outside of what you would call ‘physical’ training. Members meet here for cooking classes, gardening classes, survival training, medical courses, language studies, political discussions, and even spiritual classes. We have a cooking straight from your garden class every summer which has three hundred students in it. The class is so popular we have had to make sure nothing else is happening in the building when the class is scheduled. This is more like a university than it is a simple dojo,” Mark said with a smile.

“Wow,” Mark said. “I never knew. My parents never told me about all you have done here.”

“They probably did, but you were not ready to hear them yet,” RJ said with a steady face. “Many things go on in the world and most people don’t know about them. They either do not want to listen or they ‘just can’t find the time’ to participate. Like your two, it usually takes an event to get them to open their eyes.”

RJ went on, “The event can be something like you two are going through. It can be a medical issue. It can be a mid-life crisis. Or, unfortunately, it also comes after a tragic event like a form of crime. Many of our members have been a victim or have a family member or close relative of a crime. We have survivors of sexual and physical assaults, attempted murder, victims of bullying, survivors of home invasions and car jackings, and victims of robberies of various kinds.”

Kelly looked through the office window at the people nearest the front door. She started to ask a question before RJ stopped her, “Not everyone out there has a story to tell. Some of our members are like you and just want to learn to protect themselves against anything that could happen in the future. They are concerned with the way the world is heading and don’t want to rely on someone else to take care of the safety of their family. Also, there are quite a few members who simply enjoy the mental and physical aspects of the training we provide here. They are not yet ready to commit to our world of an upcoming crisis. They are simply here because what we do gives them mental peace and a healthy body.”

Kelly looked relieved at the statement because she still hadn’t come to grips with her kids and herself learning how to hurt someone. She still pictured her kids turning into bullies because some martial arts teacher behaved like they tended to do in the movies. RJ picked up on her uneasiness and said, “Why don’t I walk you around and tell you more about the place.”

RJ walked Kelly and Mark around his dojo and introduced them to various teachers and students. Kelly saw the kids having a wonderful time learning how to do various Tai Chi movements and gymnastic rolls and flips. She looked around at the large variety of students and activities and noticed a group of kids sitting quietly in a corner and asked RJ about them. “What are they doing over there?”

“Those are a special group of kids who are learning to handle anger issues. We run a program with the state and local school districts to host kids who have trouble with keeping their anger in check. Part of the program does involve a mental health counselor, but this part helps them channel their anger into something else. Right now they are learning how to meditate to calm themselves down when they feel angry. They go from the basic focus meditation they are doing now to more advanced forms which takes their energies and dissipates it. They will move on to various physical exercises to drain their energy as well. It’s not much different from what everyone learns, just in a different format.”

“Don’t some of them turn out to be bullies once they learn how to fight?” Kelly asked.

“Not really. Some try to bully others around. If we catch them acting like bullies, we make them team up with someone like Suzy,” RJ responded as he pointed to a little girl not much bigger than Cheyenne. “Suzy is eight and has been training here for four years. She is one of our ‘bully killers’,” Mark said with a smile.

“Bully killer?” Kelly looked with a frown on her face.

“That is a nickname we give little girls who are good at defending themselves. Suzy can handle anyone who is not more than two feet taller than she is or about a hundred pounds heavier. She takes those bullies and just flat-out knocks them on their ass if they try to over-power her. She trains them to respect others by showing them anyone can defend themselves, no matter what their size. Most kids who come in here as bullies learn to control themselves. After their experience here, they never know when some girl, half their size, will throw them across the mat and look down at them asking if they are hurt. It only takes a few times with a few different girls before those bullies start to back off. Don’t get me wrong,” RJ said when he saw the shock on Kelly’s face. “We don’t do this in a way to embarrass the bully in front of everyone. That would be counter-productive.  We have methods in which they are taught to respect others without losing face. It has worked many times and we have a very high success rate with calming bullies down.”

“Really, after they learn to fight, they don’t get worse?” Kelly asked.

“You’ve used that term twice,” RJ responded. “As a practice, we don’t teach our members how to fight. We teach them to defend themselves. There are some advanced members and people who are members of the community who believe what we do about the future.  I teach offensive methods and weapons to this group, but the vast majority of the regular members are not taught to fight, just how to defend.”

“What’s the difference?” Kelly interrupted.

“Teaching them to fight would involve mostly offensive moves like punches or kicks. We teach very little of that here. What we teach is how to redirect an attacker away from you. How to use body mechanics against an attacker and how to utilize certain pressure points to make them let go of you. This type of defense does not require strength or size. Just knowledge,” RJ countered. “Our main weapon here is running away after you get the attacker to let you go. Like I said, some members want more offensive moves because they feel like they want to defend family members who may not be able to defend themselves. We do teach that as well, but we do not teach someone to go on the attack unless others are in the process of attacking.”

“Donna said she put her attackers in the hospital,” Kelly said as she looked at RJ.

“Yes, she did. Donna was attacked by multiple people. For her to survive she needed to put the attackers on the ground in seconds and in a state she didn’t have to worry about them again. She needed to do this so she could concentrate on any new attacks from the rest of the group. This is also something we teach our students, because you can’t always run away when cornered. If there is more than one person attacking you and you only ‘wrapped’ up the first one, the others would cause you problems. They will either injure or kill you.”

RJ looked at Kelly and said, “We both know this is not a perfect world. Law enforcement is not always there to save you. People who are crazy or desperate enough to attack you in a parking lot will not listen to reason. They will not leave you alone if you simply throw one of them to the ground. They will come at you hard and the only chance you have if you cannot run is to injure them and take them out of the fight before they win.”

Mark wanted to lighten the mood again so he asked about an older woman who was working with a much younger man. “What about her? She looks like she’s eighty. Do you really believe she could defend herself against that man if he was really trying?”

RJ laughed, “He is trying. Wilma is eighty-two and she is a tiger. Last summer a group of young punks came up to her and her friend and tried to grab their purses. They pushed her friend to the ground and broke her hip while doing so, but Wilma fought back and broke several of the punk’s fingers and arms. They ended up dropping Wilma’s friend’s purse and running away. We now have twenty people from Wilma’s senior home training here. It is amazing what you can do if you understand body mechanics and energy control. The little girl I just told you about, Suzy. I’ve been doing this for three decades and have been in some rough places when I worked for the government. She put a move on me the other day and got her finger in one of my pressure points on my arm and I liked to have cried. Even with all my training and experience, I was on the ground begging her to let go.”

That broke the ice and everyone had a good laugh at RJ’s expense. The rest of the tour went well and by the end both Mark and Kelly were sold on RJ’s techniques. “What do we do from here?” Mark asked once they made it back to RJ’s office.

“Normally, it would take someone like you two at least two years of prep work before we started the actual martial arts portion of the training. We spend the first two years working on your body and mind. You need the physical ability to handle the martial arts and the mental ability to overcome the stress of what you are learning.  We all know we don’t have much time, so I’m going to put you on an accelerated training schedule if you agree. This will involve coming here at least twice a week and putting in at least two, if not three hours, a day by the end of the year. We need to get you up to speed on quite a bit of stuff before January so we can start defensive moves at the beginning of the year.“

“We don’t come every day?” Kelly asked.

“No. Most of our students only come once or twice a week for each class they are enrolled in. What we do here is introduce a topic and then guide you until you understand enough to learn on your own. We don’t expect you to learn everything here. We expect you to learn at home after being introduced to the topic here. Coming here only allows us to guide and correct your learning. You will need to watch DVDs, read books, and practice your craft every day. Your time at the dojo is spent to quiz over what you should have learned during the week and then introduce what you need to learn during the new week.”

RJ went over to a cabinet and pulled out four large binders. “Here are you guide books,” he said as he handed them to Mark and Kelly.

“They have our name on them,” Kelly looked up.

“Yeah. I knew you two would make this decision, so I went ahead and made this up for you. What you’ll find in there is a training schedule for the next two years. The manual will show you what you are going to learn each week. You will learn what to read to find out more about the exercises and which videos to watch to enforce your training. You will find the exercises and concepts are progressive. You should not continue on to the next exercise until you have learned the current one well enough to be given the go ahead by your Sensei. Don’t go ahead and learn on your own. In the beginning, come here and let one of our teachers show you what to do. Use the book during the week to keep the training in your head. If you don’t learn the basic pieces correctly for the first few months, it makes the rest of it harder.”

Ok. When do we need to show up?” Kelly asked.

“Wednesday evening at seven. You will be working with Donna as your Sensei. Use the time before then to gather your supplies and work on the few prep items I have listed.”

“Owen’s Donna?” Kelly asked with a smile.

“Yes. She asked to train you. She’s quite good at everything we do here. Plus, she will be a good teacher for the other things you two have to learn before the meltdown we know is coming.”

“What about that?” Mark asked. “We are so busy trying to build up with the farm to get ready for the meltdown. How are we going to find two or more hours a day to learn this?”

“Easy. Once you get your internal energy under control, you will be able to wake up earlier and do a round of training before starting your day. You also probably spend at least an hour, if not two, each night on the web reading news sites and web pages about the upcoming meltdown. You know it’s coming and you know you only have a few years before the meltdown occurs. Stop wasting time reinforcing your beliefs each night and use the time to prepare. Owen told me, you and he are unemployed. Use what time you can each morning to do this training. Work on your farm and other preps during the day when you can. Finish up each night with another round of training. I need you two to be ready by January to start the actual martial arts part of the training. You need to get physically and mentally ready for it over the next five or six months.”

“I can do that,” Mark replied, “but Kelly still works all day. I guess I will have to take over some more of the household chores so she has time to complete her training.”

Kelly just laughed and said, “I knew something positive would come out of this.”

“I also take it you want to join our community as well?” RJ continued.

“Yes, if you will have us. Kelly’s mom and dad are moving to the farm with us and if I can talk them into it, so will my parents. Please include them as well if you can.”

Mark, Kelly, and RJ talked for an hour about the community and what RJ wanted from Mark and Kelly. They all agreed Kelly would start trying to organize the community from an HR perspective. Mark would start making the rounds with RJ to meet everyone before he dived into his new job. They had completed their talk just as Cheyenne and Dakota were let into the office by Lisa.

“That was fun,” both of them said at the same time.

“Can we come back?” Dakota asked.

“We are coming back on Wednesday,” Kelly said.

“Yea,” both girls yelled.

“Until we come back, you two have homework to do.”

Cheyenne looked at Kelly and said, “But’s it’s summer and schools out. How can I have homework?”

“There are a few things you have to do each day while you are training here. You need to practice everything every day so you learn it.”

“Ok,” Cheyenne said.

“Do I have homework?” Dakota asked.

“Yes,” replied RJ. “You need to practice being cute.”

“I can do that,” she replied to the laughter of all the adults in the room.

“Wow, there’s a lot of stuff in here,” Kelly exclaimed while looking at her folder on the drive back home. “We are going to have to go to the store today and get all the stuff we need. It’s like going to school and having a supply list.”

“He did say the place was like a university,” Mark replied.

“We’ll if your folder is like mine, you are going to have to start jogging in the morning,” she teased him knowing he always hated jogging.

“What?” he said as he corrected his driving to stay in his own lane. “I hate to jog.”

Cheyenne piped up in the back and said, “I’ll jog with you in the morning, Daddy. I can take it slow so I don’t embarrass you.”

“Thank you, Pumpkin,” Mark chuckled knowing it would not be hard for her or anyone to run him into the ground.

Once they got home, the girls took a little nap while Mark and Kelly went over everyone’s folder. The training schedule was extensive, but put together so well they figured the schedule would be easy to follow. Mark was impressed how progressive the schedule was and took them a little deeper every week. He didn’t read anything in the schedule that would cause them to ‘over do’ their training, although he knew they would be sore the first few weeks. Kelly wondered how she was going to fit everything into her current schedule. She had to tell herself it was for the family and one day what she learned here would be useful. Besides, she needed to get back into shape if she was going to live on a farm. Better have the soreness now than when everyone depended on her more than they did today.

Both Mark and Kelly decided to start on their ‘prep’ work today and were surprised when the first thing they had to learn was how to meditate. “Does your folder say you need to go into a quiet room and stare at a spot on the wall for thirty minutes?” Mark asked.

“Yea, but the goal is not to stare at a spot on the wall for thirty minutes. It is to focus only on the spot for thirty minutes without having anything else enter your mind. We are supposed to learn how to block out everything and not think of nothing but our breathing.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard. I block you out all the time,” Mark chuckled.

“I can’t wait to learn to put you on your ass when you smart off,” Kelly laughed as she went into her office to learn to meditate.

Mark and Kelly created a comfortable spot on the floor with a pillow. Each one of them taped a piece of paper with a large dot in the center of the paper to the wall at eye level. They sat down and started to concentrate on their breathing while looking at the spot and trying to block any other thought out of their mind. They both made it for thirty seconds before the first thoughts invaded their minds and they lost their focus. They started over again and again and could only make it about thirty seconds at a time before losing focus. The entire thirty minute session seemed to drag on for hours. Once their time was up, they walked into the living room with their heads held down and just looked at each other before bursting out in laughter.

“I take it, it’s as bad for you as it was for me?” Kelly asked.

“Sure wasn’t easy. I only made it about thirty seconds at a time before I started thinking about something else. I mean, I couldn’t concentrate on my breathing at all after about thirty seconds.”

“Me, too. It seemed like I was in there for a whole day and not just thirty minutes,” she said while laughing. “I wonder how much of this stuff looks easy on paper, but is actually going to be as hard?”

They both got quiet and picked up their folders to go over them again. This time, they took nothing for granted and read each word and took notes. They both didn’t know it at the time, but they both had just started a life long journey into the discovery of the mysteries of mental and physical abilities. Abilities they had buried deep in them, RJ and Donna was going to teach them to release over the next few years. Abilities they never knew existed, but would be used to save their and many other people’s lives in the near future.

Chapter 20

Over the next few months, Mark and Kelly were extremely busy. Mark was able to work into his schedule at least three hours of training RJ had given him each day. He went to the farm three days a week and still managed to work for Plains Airlines enough they didn’t think he dropped off the face of the earth. Kelly was even busier as she had to spend more time at work dealing with the massive layoff starting in a few months. Her days were a blur, but she did manage to train with Donna on Wednesdays and Saturdays and practice her skills for at least two hours each day. She admitted she would not have been able to do this if Mark hadn’t taken up most of the household chores. Kelly still wanted to be in charge of making dinner each day. She would plan the meal and Mark would do the prep work and get everything ready for her so she could cook it once she got home. He also agreed to do the dishes so she could go upstairs with the kids for at least an hour before working on her meditation. Mark and Kelly agreed they knew the world was going to meltdown in the next year or two. There was no reason to spend more than a few minutes on the web each night confirming it. They agreed to take a quick look at Mark’s economic indicators and a few news sources. They wanted to try to figure out if there was still time to work on everything before the crash. They knew they wouldn’t get an exact time the meltdown would occur, but looking over the indicators would let them know if it was happening sooner rather than later.

It came as a pleasant surprise and source of worry when Mark and Kelly and Kelly’s parents received offers on their houses. It turned out a lot of people were trying to move closer to their jobs. Outlying housing divisions and small towns were losing people who could pick up and leave. Everyone was now faced with the chore of moving and finding new places to live. Kelly solved the problem of a new home for her parents when she took her mom, Mark’s mom, and the girls to visit her grandmother in Madill. On the way back, they passed a mobile home lot that had a big sign saying, “Everything Must Go! No Reasonable Offer Refused.”

Kelly said “What the hell,” while turning around and driving into the lot.

The quality of mobile homes impressed everyone. Kelly had made a deal with the lot owner to sell her two 1,200 square foot homes for $38,000 a piece and a 2,200 square foot home for $68,000. She could pay cash for one of the 1,200 square foot homes today even though it would drain their bank account until the house closed in two more weeks. Her mom would need to talk to her dad, but they would also pay cash when their house closed at the end of the week. Kelly also worked out an agreement that if the larger home was still available in two weeks, she would come back and give him a $30,000 down payment. He would finance the remaining $38,000 for ten years at the current finance rate. He agreed and they drew up papers for the smaller home. She said she would be back first thing in the morning with Mark to finish the sale. The owner promised he had crews standing by and could set up any home he sold in a manner of days if their lot was ready. Kelly got a listing of stuff that needed to be done to the farm before the mobile could be set up and promised it would be ready before next week.

Mark was skeptical about the mobile home until he saw it and learned the ongoing mortgage payment would be less than $400. He loved the look of both the smaller and larger mobile homes. When he learned they could have them ready in a matter of days, he agreed to let Kelly spend the rest of their savings. The owner of the lot was pleased with the sale. He agreed with a $2,000 down payment he would move and set up the larger house before their house sold. Kelly’s dad took a little longer to convince to buy a mobile home. By the end of the day, three new houses were scheduled to be set up on the farm within two weeks. They still needed to add a new septic system for Ted’s and Helen’s new house. Mark also needed to convince his parents to put their house up for sale and move to the second smaller mobile home. Mark and Kelly still needed to rent a small apartment to live in until they did not need to go into work anymore.

Mark and Kelly had some additional luck during the month. They had managed to secure a new apartment in Denton a few weeks before gas jumped up another $1.50 a gallon. After the gas increased, a mass of people walked away from their home mortgages and rentals in areas deemed too far to drive into work. This mass of people quickly soaked up all the available rental units close to the downtown areas of the cities. Every apartment complex within twenty miles of downtown areas found themselves faced with month-long waiting lists. Rental rates skyrocketed which caused a mass of long-time renters being forced out because they could not afford the new rates. Middle-class working Americans moved into the cities, poorer working class Americans left their jobs and left the cities with anyone who was unemployed or on fixed incomes. This event caused Mark’s dad to finally see the writing on the wall and he sold their house and moved out to the farm with Kelly’s parents.

Over the course of the summer, Mark continued to work on the farm and was able to add a small garden Kelly, her mom, and his mom tended. Because his parents and Kelly’s parents both would be living on the farm by the end of August, Mark started adding small animals into the mix. He built up a small flock of chickens, ducks, and turkeys. Added rabbits and pigs for meat and because his mom loved raising goats when she was young, they added a small herd of milk goats. The efforts they had made were already paying off in the form of a small number of vegetables, eggs, meat from the chickens and rabbits and milk from the goats. It was not enough to supply them with all their needs. The food they grew did help to supplement their diets with fresh, healthy food when food prices across America were starting to skyrocket upwards.

The rise in fuel prices brought another crisis to Texas during the summer. Across the state many school districts decided they could not afford to hold any extracurricular activities in the upcoming school year. Many people didn’t understand this until it was time for the traditional summer football and band practices. Schools decided they could not afford to have teams anymore and went as far as to lay off all coaches of any sport in their districts. Band directors, basketball coaches, track coaches, choir directors, theatre teachers, and the venerable head football coach saw their lives shattered by this decision. They lined up at the unemployment office like a huge number of other Americans to see what the government could do to help them to support their families.

Getting rid of all teams and extracurricular activities was not the only decision made by desperate school boards. Many urban and suburban schools dropped their school bus services. Parents would have to find ways to drop their kids off at school in the morning and pick them up from school each afternoon. Some schools went as far as stripped the curriculum of all but the basic classes they felt were needed by today’s youth. The high price of fuel was making it much more expensive to keep schools open. Districts decided to reduce the school day to only four hours a day and all schools would close by 2pm each day and not open on Friday. Parents were left scrambling to figure out how they were going to drop their kids off and pick them up from school during the middle of a work day. They scrambled to figure out how to take care of their younger kids before the regular work day ended and on Fridays when they didn’t have school at all. School no longer became the babysitter everyone counted on it to be. As a result of these school districts actions, thousands of unlicensed daycare and transportation companies sprouted up overnight as both the unemployed and the unscrupulous sought to fill a need. Mark and Kelly solved their problems by dis-enrolling Cheyenne from her school. They moved both Cheyenne and Dakota up to the farm to live with their parents. Cheyenne would be home-schooled by Mark’s mother, who was a former school teacher. Mark was not happy with the arrangement, but at least he got to see them almost every day since he went to the farm three days a week. Kelly was extremely depressed about the situation and her inability to see the kids until her employer solved the problem for her.

At the end of September, Kelly’s employer ran the numbers and was shocked at how bad the summer season was for their restaurants. To avoid bankruptcy and possible closure, Texas Restaurants announced the closure of another thirty percent of their under-performing restaurants around the country. They also made deals with the remaining headquarters staff to take a “temporary” salary decrease of over forty percent. Kelly agreed, but with some provisions. She got them to agree to an immediate bonus of twenty percent of her annual salary.  She would also be able to work from home four days of the week and only come into the office on Wednesdays. It took some negotiations, but Texas Restaurants realized Kelly would be critical over the next six months while they downsized thousands of employees from the shutdown restaurants. Kelly walked out of the negotiations with the unwritten understanding that once all the employees were gone and all the paperwork filed, she would be out of a job. No one at Texas Restaurants knew about Kelly’s new life, so they were surprised when she wasn’t fazed at all by this suggestion and agreed.

The move with Kelly’s employer solved several of the Turner’s problems. Kelly was now able to work from home and be with the girls all the time like Mark was. The bonus allowed the Turner’s to refill Mark’s farm budget after spending their money of the new houses. Their monthly budget dropped because they no longer had to supply gas for Kelly to drive into work each day. With the large number of potential renters available, they were able to get out of their new lease and move out to the farm. This saved even more money each month. Mark celebrated by going out and picking up three puppies from the local animal shelter he was going to train to be guard dogs for the family. He also celebrated by buying six horses and all the equipment needed to both ride the horses and use them to pull a wagon and farm equipment. Mark planned on making his living after the meltdown by manufacturing horse-drawn farm equipment and selling trained guard dogs. Kelly celebrated by planting a large herbal garden and spending an additional two hours a day learning as much about herbal medicine as she could. She wanted to help the community out as much as possible after the meltdown.

At the end of September, the American government announced a very large stimulus package. The president went on the air and told everyone listening, the crisis was over and the economy was showing signs of recovering. People should go out and start spending money on Christmas presents to celebrate the crisis ending. Many people did just that and spent what little they had in savings or credit on purchases they felt they deserved after the panic of the summer. Mark ended up throwing his biscuit at the screen and laughingly watched while three puppies appeared out of thin air and fought over the biscuit. He had to finally give up and put two more biscuits on the floor to stop the crisis that was developing in the Turner household. He called it his own stimulus package and stated it would have more of an effect on the world than the official one out of Washington. He laughed at his own little joke while Kelly, her parents, his parents, and even Cheyenne just rolled their eyes at him with grins on their faces.

Chapter 21

By the end of October, Americans could see the stimulus package had positive effects on the economy. Gas prices went down by at least $1.50 a gallon after the announcement. The government announced they asked for an unheard of mid-month jobs report. The results of the report showed large numbers of Americans had been put back to work due to the results of the stimulus package. Mark, Owen, and their group looked at the raw data and shook their heads. The economy did not get better. The fuel supply shortage was still there. Nothing had changed except for the lies from the government and another large amount added to the federal debt.

Mark knew the stimulus package would not work, but he didn’t let the announcement affect his plans. He continued working on building up the farm and learning all he could from RJ’s dojo. His work at Plains Airlines was all but done and he scheduled his last day to be the Friday before Thanksgiving. His staff had already left and Mark hadn’t been to the actual headquarters in over six weeks. He and Owen often met at the Madill diner Mark had taken Kelly’s grandmother to eat. They jokingly called the café, “Plains Headquarters North.”

Owen gave his notice and would leave the Friday before Christmas, but would only collect a third of the bonus they promised him. He shrugged when he told Mark the amount was a lot more than he had told himself he would get at this point in time.

Mark spent more and more time with Owen as their duties with Plains Airlines became less and less and his business with the community increased. Owen, RJ, and Mark drove to almost all the community member’s houses and interviewed them about their immediate plans and the plans they had made for the upcoming meltdown. As Owen believed he would, Mark was able to spot glaring holes in most members’ plans and recommend changes which were both easy and quick. Mark impressed many of the members with his ability to visualize their plans. They were grateful he made them aware of the problems they would face if they did not fill the holes he found. They were very grateful for him helping them make sure their family members would not suffer because of a simple thing they did not plan for or took for granted. During a discussion of veterinary medicine supplies at Andy Brown’s house when Mark brought up something he had been on his mind while driving all over the Madill area.

“I’ve been thinking about something as we have been driving around,” he said to the group. “Owen once told me he had a map of his property and had found out about his neighbors and put their property on the map. I figured others have done the same thing.”

“I have one of those maps as well. What’s the matter?” Andy interrupted.

“Is there a master map? Has someone created a map of all the properties in this area owned by our members and filled in what we know about the area? What about all the land we drive by every day? Who owns it? Who leases it? What is it being used for?”

Andy looked at Owen and RJ and replied, “Why do you think it is important?”

“Well, l for one thing it would be nice to have a map of our territory. A map everyone can use to find their nearest community member in times of trouble or when they want to say ‘Hello’ if they are in the neighborhood. I understand I’m new here, but at least I’ve been around on these trips. Kelly wouldn’t know where the nearest group of members lived if she broke down and needed help. I think we should create a map and handbook and let everyone know about them. I would also recommend we gather all the knowledge each of our members have about their neighbors and area farms and put it on the map and in the handbook. Most of us know our neighbors, but it would be nice to have a master collection of everything we know. Something we fill in with more information as time goes by and the area and situation changes. I bet we find a farm or two owned by a ninety-year old man in Chicago or Houston who has no intentions of coming out here. He probably leases the land to hunt on and hasn’t seen it in years. It would be nice to know about that land in case we need it for some purpose.”

“Like what?” RJ asked.

“Let me give you a scenario. Imagine a thousand acre ranch a few miles up the road from here. A company in Houston owns the place and they go out of business after the meltdown. No creditors are left to take the land over because they think the land is worthless or because all the creditors are out of business themselves. Eventually, the county would take the place over because of back taxes, but they’re out of business as well. The land would sit there and go back to nature. In the meanwhile, before this all ends and the county figures it out, what prevents refugee squatting on the land claiming the land is his? We wouldn’t know any different so we couldn’t call his bluff. They may be nice people or they may not. If we knew more about the land, we would be able to use it better after a meltdown. Even if we leave the place as raw hunting land, at least we know we are not hunting on someone else’s land. Land they are trying to get to so they could live on it and live on the deer we just hunted out. If we knew more about it we could make a better informed decision.”

“I see what you mean. We would know which land is not ever going to be lived on by its owner or relatives.  Land that is owned by a corporation or by someone who lives too far away to get here,” Owen chimed in.

“Yes,” Mark responded. “We decide if we are going to use the land for hunting, farming, haying, pasture land for our herds. We might even resettle refugees on the land we found fit enough to join our group. I also think we should visit each of the vacant properties to make sure nothing is going on there right now?”

“What do you mean?” Andy asked.

“Wouldn’t it piss you off to find out later the ranch a few miles up the road from here harbors a meth lab or marijuana field? The truck you see driving in and out of the place is not checking on cattle, but hauling bales of weed or bags of meth in its trailer. I figure we need talk to every community member about the people who live next to them. Get people over to the county offices to look up as much information on the surrounding properties as possible. Once we start doing that, compile everything into a master map. I can coordinate the master map and talk to our members about their neighbors, but I need others to go to the county offices. I don’t think I’m the one you want snooping around the land. I’d fall and break my leg or walk straight into a meth lab without even knowing it,” Mark said chuckling.

“Point taken,” Andy laughed. “I have the right people in mind to look over each property as we find out about them.”

“I can talk to our retired lawyers and investigators about going to the counties. They would be happy to do it once we tell them why,” RJ said

“I’ll help Mark,” Owen said. “We’ll figure out what we want on the map and let everyone know. We will also come up with a way to print it out for everyone and keep it online for others.”

“I’ve started a little data farm at my place,” Mark replied. “I’ve bought several computers and a lot of spare parts I’ve stored to keep them running for years. I’ve got them on a special circuit in my office with cleaner electricity than most of the rest of the farm to prevent power surges. I should be able to keep them going for years after a meltdown.”

Owen looked at Mark and said, “If we can get this done before I leave Plains, we can use their plotters to print out copies for everyone.”

“Don’t worry about the plotters.” Mark looked at Owen with a little grin on his face. “When we closed down the fifth floor, I found several pieces of equipment left. The equipment is all at my house and it includes one of those plotters. We just need to go out and buy paper for it.”

“I’ll handle paper. I’m sure plenty of paper is lying around somewhere at Plains,” Owen laughed.

Back home, Kelly was having a different conversation with her sister, Cindy. “What do you mean Fred is losing the shop?”

“No one is getting their car fixed anymore. We’ve hung on for months now with one customer here and one customer there. Ever since the major manufacturers stopped allowing him to get their computer codes, all he has been able to do is work on older cars. No one is fixing those up because of the gas prices.”

“It’s bad everywhere. Mark only has a few weeks left at Plains and I’ll be gone sometimes around March. They are closing down restaurant after restaurant and after I finished up the paperwork, I’ll be in the next group to go.”

“What? What are you going to do?”

“That is the reason we took over the farm and have moved up here,” Kelly said. Kelly went on to talk about what her and Mark had discovered and what they had been doing over the last several months. They talked for over two hours before Kelly asked Cindy. “Would you two consider selling off and moving up here with us?”

“Live on a farm? Fred has never lived anywhere other than Dallas. I don’t know what he would do on a farm.” Cindy responded.

“Why don’t you drive up her for Thanksgiving and look the place over and let us know what you think. I’m sure Mark would love to talk to Fred about his plans and our plans. Mom and dad just love it up here.”

“I talked to her yesterday. The way she talked about the farm and their new house made me think about calling you.”

“Did she tell you all the stuff we have done so far and how they agreed with us about the upcoming economic meltdown?”

“Yes. I’m still not sure about that. I think we are going through a hard time and everything will be better later. The president said the stimulus package was working and the price of gas did go down.”

“It looks like everything is getting better, but we’ve discovered alternative news sites which have the real numbers and not stuff adjusted by the politicians.”

Cindy didn’t say anything for a few minutes and Kelly thought she might be struggling with trying to figure out how to end the conversation. Cindy said after a few minutes. “What would we have to do?”

Kelly spent the next hour going through what Cindy and Fred needed to do before it became too late. She emailed the links for web sites, online materials, and told her about the mobile home lot they used to buy their house and their parents’ houses. After Kelly went through everything, Cindy said she had enough information and she wanted to spend more time talking to Fred. She agreed they would see everyone for Thanksgiving and couldn’t wait to see the place. Kelly said they could come up anytime and stay as long as they wanted without any pressure from them. She just wanted her little sister to be alright.

That evening, Kelly told Mark about her conversation with Cindy. He agreed it would be nice if they lived with them instead of ending up living in a dump the government would give them after losing their home. Mark started thinking about what they would do if others in their family have the same problem. I realize Cindy and Fred may be able to scrape up the money for a mobile. I worried about other family members couldn’t afford to move right away or would wait until they lost everything before making the move. They would need to figure out how to house more family members who may or may not be able to get a mobile home or other structure in place. Even if they figured out housing for everyone, the septic system would not hold any more houses attached to it. He wasn’t sure about the electricity being able to handle the extra load needed for more houses. He was pretty sure the water pump couldn’t pump enough to handle the extra water needed during busy times. They barely had enough water pressure as it was in the morning when everyone was talking showers at the same time at his, his parents’, and Kelly’s parents’ houses. Mark knew they were on the last bits of their money and what they did have coming in was already slated for something they needed. He needed to think about this for a few days and talk to a few more people. He was sure they would come up with something if Cindy was moving in and if others needed to move to the property as well. They had plenty of land, just not enough infrastructure and housing to handle their entire families.

It did not take Cindy and Fred more than three days to talk everything over and call Kelly back. “Hey, Sis. Would you two mind if we come up the week before Thanksgiving? The shop’s closed down for the month and we want to talk to you two. The girls only have school a few days during the week so we are going to take them out earlier. It’s not like they are really learning anything with the way the schools have changed this year.”

“Come on up and visit.  Between our house, mom’s house, and Mark’s parents’ house, we have plenty of room. You can help me make Thanksgiving dinner. Almost all of it is coming from our farm or a friend’s farm.”

“Really?” Cindy replied.

“Yep. We had a great garden this year and planned on this. Our neighbors are supplying the turkey and dressing and grain for the bread, but we are supplying all the other vegetables except for cranberry sauce. I’ll even make my own sour cream and butter from a neighbor’s milk cow. We have goats and milk them, but the cow’s milk is better for butter and sour cream.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard from mom how dad has fallen in love with his goats. She says he has more energy now than ever and can’t seem to stop talking about goats, goat milk, and goat cheese. She said he is like a broken record.”

Kelly laughed as she also had to listen to her dad talk all morning about a new goat cheese he was going to try to make for Christmas. The cheese was a soft cheese so it should be aged enough by Thanksgiving. “Yeah. I got an earful this morning. He went on for half an hour about a cheese they make in France that he needs to try for Christmas.”

Both of them laughed again and Kelly wondered when was the last time Cindy and Fred had something to laugh about in their lives. Cindy ended the call by saying they would be up on the Saturday two weeks before Thanksgiving and she couldn’t wait to see the farm and everyone.

Mark was able to figure out how to build a septic tank without too much fuss and arrange for another well to be dug on the property. Working with Owen and another member of the community, they were able to build a sturdy water tower for each of the wells. The water towers increased the water pressure without having to buy expensive high-volume pressure water pumps. By the time Cindy, Fred, Emily, and Jared came for their visit, everything was ready for another mobile home if they chose to move to the farm. They ended up selling all their stocks, cashing in their CDs, and draining their bank accounts to buy the last mobile home on the lot. The lot owner promised the home would be set up the week after Thanksgiving.

The Friday before Thanksgiving week, everyone celebrated Mark’s last day at Plains Airlines. Even though he had been with Plains for over twenty years and it had been his only adult job, he was not sad to be done with them. He had never gotten over how they treated everyone with the fuel shortage lies and out-sourcing so the executives could grow their bank accounts. He knew hundreds of people who had worked at Plains for years who were put on the curb when Plains was done with them. Mark was at least happy he got a six month’s severance package for his twenty years of sixty hour weeks. He celebrated by shredding his ID badge and burning the remains. He said afterward he should have hung it, shot it, shredded it, burned it, and scattered the ashes in the pig pen. Everyone told him he was going overboard and shredding and burning should be enough.

Thanksgiving went great for the Turner clan. A large number of Mark and Kelly’s relatives made the drive to Madill to share Thanksgiving on the farm. They were curious about the farm and Mark and Kelly’s new lifestyle. Once at the farm, everyone understood the reasons and attraction of following in Mark and Kelly’s footsteps. There were so many family members at the farm, Mark and Fred had to set up tables in one of the new barns Mark had built. This setup allowed everyone to sit at the same table and enjoy the conversation without having to talk over a football game like most people did in America. Today was a family day and everyone enjoyed being with each other so much without the normal distractions, Mark and Kelly volunteered to host the Christmas party this year. They agreed. Kelly and Cindy started planning the meal based on what was in the pantry and store room and what they should be able to find at the neighbors. They both realized they would have to plan on both meals next year as well, so they needed to adjust their garden and storage plans.

After seeing how everyone enjoyed being together for Thanksgiving and planning to repeat the dinner for Christmas, Mark started planning a new structure. This structure would server the farm as a summer kitchen, holiday kitchen and dining hall.  He knew at least three more family members would need to find somewhere to live after the meltdown. He might as well plan on a large number of people living on the farm in the next few years. Mark figured it would less expensive to have everyone eat all meals together in a dining hall than it would be to try and supply multiple houses. Mark did not believe the electric would last long after the meltdown. He was already trying to outfit the farm with alternative methods of creating electricity like solar and wind generators. He also wanted to create biogas to replace propane, but couldn’t figure out how to afford to do this for a more than the first three homes on the property. Fred and Cindy were pitching in as much as they could and Kelly’s parents pitched in to help put in solar and wind for Fred and Cindy. Fred solved a piece of the puzzle by coming up with plans for a cheap wind generator. The generator could be built with a few parts. His only concern was he was afraid the parts might not be available long after a meltdown.

Everyone enjoyed the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas except for Kelly. Cindy had taken over much of the household chores for Kelly since Kelly was the only one working. While Cindy’s helped by cutting her workload, Kelly found herself becoming a little more depressed everyday as Christmas neared. Texas Restaurants wanted all restaurants scheduled to be closed, shutdown by the end of the year for tax reasons. Kelly had to make sure everyone was gone by the end of the year. It was a depressing job for her. She hadn’t become an HR person to fire large amounts of people at once.

Kelly found herself spending the time between the holidays waking up every morning saying, “Time to go fire more people and ruin their lives. She was looking forward to the last round of pink slips going out in the middle of December and not doing anything but the final paperwork and documentation during January. It wasn’t a surprise when she went into a tailspin and cried for several hours after receiving an email from the CEO the week before Christmas. The CEO asked if she could stick around until April to handle a new round of restaurant closings. She kept saying over and over, “Just how many more lives do they want me to ruin?”

Mark told her to say no, it wasn’t worth the mental anguish she was going through each day. She kept replying to him the extra three months income would come in handy over the next year. In the end, Kelly sent back a short reply to the CEO. The email said, “I better have six months full salary as a bonus in my next paycheck or I’m out of here at the end of January. I’m also taking the next two weeks off as a vacation.” The CEO sent the bonus the very next day.  Kelly cashed the check and turned off her laptop for fourteen days of pure vacation without a single email or phone call being returned.

Chapter 22

January came in with a vengeance. A massive snow storm followed by two weeks of below zero temperatures hit all around the country. While Oklahoma is usually spared the worse of most winter storms, this particular storm did not spare any part of the country. The farm faced two inches of ice and eight inches of snow in a twenty-four period as the winter storm swept far south as southern Texas and Florida. The temperatures fell in the teens for two whole weeks which was unheard of in Mark and Kelly’s part of the country. Temperatures usually only went into the teens for a few days at a time, not for weeks at time. The farm suffered damage from the ice, but the major issue facing the residents of the farm was the loss of power for two weeks. Mark had set up both solar and wind power on the farm. He found out the amount of electricity they needed without being tied into the power company quickly overcame their system. They had propane heat, but when the batteries ran dry and the wind stopped, there was nothing to run the blower to move the heated air around the house. Luckily Mark had continued working on his disaster plans and had purchased two generators for occasions like this. He was able to tie one of the generators into the battery charging system and the other into the house’s electrical supply. All four families piled into Mark and Kelly’s house and lived out the two weeks of power outage in relative, if not crowded, comfort. Plans were made during the time to shore up the power supply of all the houses and to buy wood heaters and stoves for future winter storms. The farm residents also faced something none of them ever had to worry about in past winters. How would they keep all the water troughs around the farm free of ice in the winter? Worrying about frozen ponds and water troughs was not a southern problem. Most farms in southern Oklahoma and northern Texas didn’t have freeze proof outdoor water faucets or heated water troughs. While many people complained about the storm, Mark silently said a prayer the storm had happened when they still had money and the means to correct their mistakes.

The rest of the country was not as fortunate as the residents of the farm were. Many around the country were not prepared for a large and extended loss of electrify and froze in their own homes until the power came back on.  Many people who required electricity to run home medical devices died as they tried to summon help that never came. Others tried to keep warm and only ended up burning down their house and other houses and apartments around them. The death toll rose in the tens of thousands by the end of the first week. The second week of the storm saw more death. Many households only ordered a month’s supply of heating oil or propane. They found themselves running out once they managed to get electricity to run their blowers. This would normally not have been a problem, but it was this winter as many Americans learned about the global fuel shortage the hard way during the storm. Suppliers did not have enough oil and propane to deliver more than the amount promised each month. There was no way to make up for the supply issues of millions of houses around the country. Those who used natural gas also faced problems getting enough gas to heat their homes. Companies and schools were forced to close down even where they had electricity because the natural gas suppliers couldn’t supply them with enough gas to keep them warm. America learned a hard lesson in January and Europe froze solid as their suppliers cut them off altogether.

Once the storm ended and Kelly was able to go back to work, she started sliding into a fit of depression.  It wasn’t until Fred told her his feeling about what she was going through was she was able to enjoy the last few months of her employment.

“Kelly, can I talk to you about something personal.”

“Sure, Fred. What’s on your mind?”

“Everyone knows that you have been struggling with your work over the last few months and having to face another few months of layoffs is starting to depress you again.”

“I know,” Kelly said as she closed her eyes with a weary look on her face.

“I want to give you my opinion if you’ll listen to me. The first round of layoffs came as a shock to everyone. Texas Restaurants’ management made the decisions to fire people, you didn’t. The actual firing came from them and the restaurant managers, not you. All you did was supply paperwork. You shouldn’t feel guilty about your part in it because you did not make the decisions. You were a cog in the wheel.”

Kelly looked at him like he was about to cross a line, but he continued anyway. “The second round of closing should not have been a shock to many people. The company had already closed a third of their restaurants. At this point, if you worked at another company restaurant that wasn’t packed with people every night, you should have seen the closure coming. People need to be responsible for their own futures. If they are working at a company losing most of its business and closing down locations, they shouldn’t treat it like a job with a future. They should have been worried and started looking for something else or planning on the day they lost this one.  You are depressed about having to hand out paperwork to people right before Christmas. You are still thinking like everyone else. Everyone thinks Christmas is a time to go out and blow large amounts of money on presents most people didn’t need or didn’t want. They have forgotten Christmas should have been about family and not money.”

Kelly started to cheer up a little as she realized Fred was right. She didn’t fire anyone, management did. She didn’t ruin anyone’s Christmas. The fact everyone let Christmas be about money and presents and not family was her fault. Kelly started to feel a lot better and smiled at Fred as he finished up his line of thought. “This last round of layoffs you are handling. You should feel no guilt about because if you worked at any Texas Restaurant chain and business was down in the least bit, you should have known you were toast. I bet a lot of the people your company only stayed around this long because they didn’t want to look for another job. They don’t need to find another job. They think they will get something when they are laid off. Or are just plain stupid enough to think thousands and thousands of other people would be let go, but they would be immune. There is no one on your list that should be surprised when they get the slip. They should know it’s coming by now.”

“Thanks, Fred,” Kelly said with a smile on her face. “You’re right. I should just do my job, fill out my paperwork and collect my paycheck until the day Texas Restaurants is done with me. Why would I even want people to stay employed at a company that would let thousands of people go right before a major holiday? Any company would do what Texas Restaurants did, doesn’t deserve to stay in business. And given the amount of information out there, if you do not take enough time to worry about your own future, why should I worry about it for you?”

February rolled around and Mark was able to close out his 401k before America and the rest of the world got a good look at the horrible Christmas shopping season. The stimulus package of last year only spurred the economy for a short time and the rest of the year was a complete disaster for the American retail segment. It did not matter if you were employed or unemployed, you did not buy anything. American’s were slowing coming to realize they shouldn’t just buy something on credit because they have credit on their cards. They should only buy what was necessary until things turned around for the better. The greatest fear in the American economy started to come true. Americans started to live within their budgets and those budgets where not large. Mark was lucky enough to get his money before the stock market crashed. He had enough money from his 401k to erase all remaining debt, buy a few pieces of gold and silver, and buy everything on his list to outfit the farm. Mark was able to increase the electrical system and do some planning for more residents. There was not enough money to do anything about housing if other family members needed to move to the farm.

If the horrible Christmas shopping season did not put a damper on everything, then realization of the fuel shortage during the cold snap did. Gas prices responded to the fuel shortage by erasing their earlier drop after the stimulus and then went up even more. All-in-all, gas prices went up by $3.00 dollars in a matter of six weeks. Americans became outraged and congress started hearing after hearing on the matter of price gouging. Reports leaked out of the hearings saying it was not price gouging or speculation, but an actual global fuel shortage causing the spike in fuel prices. The government tried to cover it up and released a major part of the national reserve to bring prices back down. By the end of March it was too late to reverse the meltdown. People in America had seen the truth and did not believe in these types of lies anymore. Politicians found out lying no longer worked, so they had to scramble to solve a problem for once in their careers. They accomplished that by doing what American politicians always did when they wanted to look better in front of the American people, they went to war.

March and April were busy for everyone on the farm. They started laying out their gardens and planning for larger flocks and herds of animals to support the increased number of people living at the farm. Mark also convinced the farm members that their family members would either need to move to the farm soon or would benefit from the fresh food the farm produced. The garden space was tripled, chickens were brought in from large dealers, rabbits were left to do what rabbits do, and other farm animals were found and purchased. By the end of March, Mark figured they could feed at least two hundred people if everything grew and was harvested as planned.

Kelly’s job ended in April and everyone celebrated by hanging her ID card, shooting it, shredding it, burning it and scattering the ashes in the pig pen. She didn’t miss a step and closed out her laptop one day and turned all of her energies into the farm the next. Neither she nor Mark ever looked back at their old life with anything but scorn. Even when they came in after a long day in the garden soaking wet and covered in mud, they still preferred this life over the last one.

April also found the world at war. America led the way by looking at countries historically having the ability to produce natural gas and oil and told the truth for the first time in six decades. The American government told Libya, Venezuela, Iraq and Iran, “You have stated for decades you hated our guts and wanted us to be burned off the face of the world. You have oil and gas and we need it, so we are coming to take it.” Of course, the world just exploded with this statement and riots started happening everywhere. Middle Eastern countries exploded in violence toward America and Americans while European socialists took to the streets. China, Russia and other countries condemned American actions, but America said, “We don’t care. We need to fuel our citizens and you’re not going to do anything about it but complain. Go ahead and riot and burn your own cities down to the ground. We don’t care.” When Americans started to protest the wars, the government took to the airways. They showed Americans the tens of thousands of people who had just died due to a lack of heating oil. “Accept this and the deaths of your family each winter or accept we are going to war over oil.” Most Americans shut up and started supporting anything that could be done to extend their way of life another few years.

China, Russia, India, and a few other countries around the world started to follow suit. By the middle of May, any country which had natural resources and couldn’t defend themselves found foreign troops surrounding their gas and oil fields. It shocked the world when reports started coming in from all these “resource-rich” countries that there was nothing left of the giant oil and gas fields of the future. The conquering countries found only enough left in the reserve to supply their economies for another six months, at the most, before shortages start once again. Once the world found this out, it took the next desperate step to secure fuel for the future. Any and every spot on the planet earth once held, may hold, or even was suspected of having a drop of oil was raped and pillaged. It did not matter if the spot was in a nature preserve, a world heritage site or even under your grandmother’s back porch. If there was a possibility of fuel there, someone took it over by force and started sinking an oil or gas line.

Mark, Kelly, the residents of the farm, and the members of the community all took a long, deep breath and mentally prepared themselves for the next few months. They knew things would limp along for another six month, but figured by the start of next year. The meltdown would begin and they would face a collapse in society not seen since the dark ages. It was with this in mind, the farm held their last Memorial Day party. Memorial Day was not a party of the past, with hot dogs, hamburgers, and beer by the pool or lake. The party was a party with the first harvest of their new gardens and the butcher of a pig left over from last year. Memorial Day was a party not to celebrate the veterans of American wars, but to mark the passage of a way of life driven by cheap oil and gas. A way of life no one at the party thought would return for hundreds of years. As they watched the sun setting over the farm, they all knew it was setting on the only way of life billions of people around the world ever knew. Tomorrow’s rising sun would start the beginning of a new day and a new world billions would not survive.

Other Works by Randy Dyess

Out of Gas Series:

The Farm

Continue with the saga of the Turners and their family farm in Madill, Oklahoma as the world collapses from a global fuel shortage. This second novel of the series will start back a few months from where the first novel ended by describing in detail how Mark and Kelly Turner rebuilt the old family farm into a sanctuary that will be used by hundreds of family members and friends to survive the economic meltdown and the collapse of society. Join the members of the farm and community as they prepare and fight for survival against muggers, robbers, biker gangs, and the worse type of criminal that walks around the American countryside; the government bureaucrat.

Steve’s Escape

Readers of the second book in the Out of Gas series, The Farm, will remember Mark’s brother, Steve, arriving with his family one morning after breakfast. Steve and Maria tell the members of the farm the hardships they faced in Corpus Christi as the city fell to ruins. They tell a tale of lost jobs, a major city closing its doors, a large gang war, and their flight by boat to safety.

Steve’s Escape is that tale. This 18,000 word short story retells the family’s plight and subsequent flight with an extra level of detail not found in The Farm.

Coming in Summer 2013

The Meltdown

The Turner’s have prepared for the financial meltdown they saw coming. The farm is stocked, populated with family and friends, and ready to support everyone in the upcoming times. The world has started melting down and the members of the farm and surrounding community are as prepared as they can be. Join the residents of the Madill, Oklahoma countryside as they try to hold their lives together while nations turn into dust and cities turn into nations. Read as they try to survive caught between two competing nation-states and the ex-soldiers who control them.

Will the people of the community and farm survive as independents or will they be swept up as serfs in the territorial conquests of the King of North Texas? Find out by reading the third book of the Out of Gas series: The Meltdown.

About the author

Randy Dyess has spent decades in the computer industry working with various database platforms. He has spent the majority of that time consulting as a database expert while spending time at various companies as a database administrator, data architect, and advanced trainer. Over the past two decades he has written numerous technical articles, blog postings, book chapters, and white papers on various database and operating system topics.

Out of Gas is his first fiction novel.

Visit Randy online at http://www.RandyDyess.com to find out more about him, upcoming books and the background information he has created to take you into the world of Mark and Kelly Turner.

Or follow him on Twitter @randydyess and Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Out-Of-Gas/177581492376826

If you enjoyed this book, please take the time to recommend it to other purchasers with a review or star rating via your retailer.

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Other Works by Randy Dyess